ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced bye-election, this September 12, on National Assembly’s seat NA-171 Rahim Yar Khan that has fallen vacant following the death of Mustafa Mumtaz from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
The public notice for the by-poll would be issued on August 13 whereas the polling would be held on September 12, according to a notification issued by ECP Additional Director General (Elections) Nadeem Haider on Thursday.
Mustafa passed away due to heart attack this Monday. He was among 39 Members National Assembly (MNAs) who were notified by the ECP on July 26 as PTI lawmakers in pursuance of Supreme Court’s order in the reserved seats case.
On July 12, in its landmark verdict in the reserved seats case, the SC declared that 39 of the 80 MNAs were shown as PTI members, as per ECP record, but remaining 41 were shown as independents.
All these 80 lawmakers joined Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) after February 8 general elections in a bid to secure the reserved seats in the aftermath of the denial of electoral symbol to the PTI by the ECP.
The 39 MNAs notified as PTI returned candidates were: Mumtaz Mustafa, Amjad Ali Khan, Saleem Rehman, Sohail Sultan, Bashir Khan, Mehboob Shah, Junaid Akbar, Ali Khan Jadoon, Asad Qaiser, Shahram Tarakai, Mujahid Ali, Anwar Taj, Fazal Muhammad Khan, Arbab Amir Ayub, Shandana Gulzar, Sher Ali Arbab, Asif Khan, Ahad Ali Shah, Shahid Khan, Nasim Ali Shah, Sher Afzal Marwat, Usama Mela, Shafqat Abbas, Ali Afzal Sahi, Rai Haider Khan, Nisar Ahmed, Rana Atif, Changaze Ahmad Khan, Muhammad Ali Sarfraz, Khurram Virk, Latif Khosa, Rai Hassan Nawaz, Aamir Dogar, Zain Qureshi, Faraz Noon, Shabbir Qureshi, Umber Majeed, Awais Jakhar and Zartaj Gul.
The fate of remaining 41 MNAs remains uncertain following the passage of the controversial Elections (Second Amendment) Bill 2024 by the parliament on Tuesday. This bill restricts any independent candidate in an assembly from joining any political party after the stipulated period of three days.
The 41 MNAs are: Abdul Latif, Sahibzada Sibghatullah, Nawaz Khan, Atif Khan, Ali Muhammad Khan, Sajid Khan, Iqbal Khan, Zulfiqar Ali, Shehryar Afridi, Yousaf Khan, Zubair Khan, Ahmed Chattha, Aniqa Mehdi, Imtiaz Choudhry, Mobeen Arif, Ihsanullah Virk, Bilal Ejaz, Miqdad Ali Khan, Jamal Ahsan Khan, Umair Khan Niazi, Sana Ullah Mastikhel, Ghulam Muhammad, Saad Ullah, Umar Farooq, Usama Hamza, Riaz Khan, Mahbob Sultan, Sheikh Waqas Akram, Ameer Sultan, Arshad Sahi, Khurram Manj, Mian Azhar, Azim Uddin, Raza Ali Gillani, Ayesha Nazir Jutt, Mian Ghous Muhammad, Javaid Iqbal, Jamshaid Ahmad, Moazzam Ali Khan, Fiaz Hussain and Khawaja Sheraz.
The ECP, Wednesday, moved a review petition against the top court’s order in the reserved seats case.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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