Election commission denotifies Qasim Suri as National Assembly member

• His election as NA speaker was declared void by election tribunal on September 27.
• Suri requested apex court to declare his disqualfication as void.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) denotified on Wednesday Qasim Suri as a member of the National Assembly.

The decision by the ECP comes after Balochistan High Court’s election tribunal verdict that declared the election of Suri as null and void. The election tribunal had also ordered a re-election in NA-265 constituency.

A petition was filed against the election of the deputy speaker by Balochistan National Party leader Lashkari Raeesani. In his petition, Raeesani alleged that there was rigging in the 2018 general election. He was among the five candidates to have contested from the constituency.

Suri was elected as an MNA from NA-265 (Quetta-II) on a ticket of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) last year. On Tuesday, Suri approached the Supreme Court challenging his disqualification. In his petition, the former NA speaker stated that the tribunal did not review the evidence properly.