Islamabad (Web Desk): The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday announced to hold by-elections on nine seats of the National Assembly (NA) on September 25.
The electoral watchdog had previously accepted 11 out of the 131 resignations tendered by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNAs, following the removal of party chief Imran Khan from the office of the prime minister earlier this year.
According to the schedule released by the ECP, the candidates can submit their nomination papers from August 10 to 13, which will be verified by August 17, whereas the election symbols will be issued to the candidates on August 29.
As per the ECP, the by-polls will be held on the constituencies including NA-22 Mardan, NA-24 Charsadda, NA-31 Peshawar, NA-45 Kurram, NA-108 Faisalabad, NA-118 Nankana Sahib, as well as NA-237, 239, and 246 of Karachi.
On July 28, NA Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf accepted the resignations of 11 PTI members exactly 109 days after they resigned from their seats.
With the move, the process of accepting the resignations formally began.
Under Article 64 (1) of the Constitution, the speaker accepted the resignations of several key PTI leaders, including former human rights minister Shireen Mazari, former interior minister Ijaz Ahmed Shah, former state minister for parliamentary affairs Ali Muhammad Khan and ex-state minister for information and broadcasting Farrukh Habib.
The other PTI lawmakers whose resignations have been accepted are Fazal Muhammad Khan, Shaukat Ali, Fakhar Zaman Khan, Jamil Ahmed Khan, Muhammad Akram Cheema, Abdul Shakoor Shad and Shandana Gulzar Khan. Mazari and Shandana were elected on the reserved seats for women from Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), respectively.