ISLAMABAD: The poll organisation has announced that it will hold by-elections on 23 seats of the assemblies on April 21. The seats comprise of 19 seats vacated by those candidates who had won more than one seat in the last month’s general elections and four seats that saw elections postponement due to the deaths of contesting candidates.

The by-polls would be held on the six seats of National Assembly, 12 seats of Punjab Assembly, two seats each of Balochistan Assembly and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, and one Sindh Assembly seat, according to a notification issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday.

Of these seats, the general elections that were scheduled on February 8, on National Assembly’s seat NA-8 and KPA seat PK-22, were delayed due to the killing of a candidate who was contesting the polls on both these seats. Polls were also postponed on KPA seat PK-91 and PA seat PP-266 due to the deaths of the respective contestants ahead of February 8 general polls.

The remaining 19 seats that have been vacated by candidates who won more than one seats in the general polls, and where bye-polls are being held, are: NA-44, NA-119, NA-132, NA-196, NA-207, PP-22, PP-32, PP-36, PP-54, PP-93, PP-139, PP-147, PP-149, PP-158, PP-164, PP-290, PB-20, PP-22 and PS-80.

Article 223(2) of the Constitution of Pakistan provides that if a candidate is elected to more than one seats, they shall, within a period of 30 days, after the declaration of the result for the last such seat, resign all but one seat, and if they don’t, all the seats to which they have been elected shall become vacant at the expiration of the 30-day period except the seat to which the candidate has been elected last, or, if they are elected to more than one seats on the same day, the seat for election to the nomination was filed last is to be retained.

The ECP is under fire from public and political circles as well as international stakeholders over allegedly massive rigging in the February 8 general polls. The electoral body has rejected these allegations.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024