ECP de-notifies Imran Khan from 6 National Assembly seats
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday de-notified former prime minister Imran from six National Assembly seats that the PTI chairman won last year during the by-elections.
According to a notification issued by the electoral watchdog, which it posted on its official Twitter account, Imran has been de-notified from the NA-22 Mardan-III, NA-24 Charsadda-II, NA-31 Peshawar-V, NA-108 Faisalabad-VIII, NA-118 Nankana Sahib-II, NA-Korangi Karachi-I seats.
Last month, the ECP had decided to issue a notification confirming the PTI chief’s victory in by-elections on seven National Assembly seats that were earlier withheld for his alleged failure to submit the party’s funding details to the electoral body.
A five-member ECP body headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikander Sultan Raja announced the decision that was reserved on Dec 20 last year.
The electoral watchdog had taken notice of Imran’s failure to submit the details of the expenses incurred during the by-polls and subsequently withheld the notification of his victory over non-compliance with the commission’s orders.
In a separate notification today, the ECP also suspended the de-notification of 32 PTI MNAs from Punjab.
It added that the commission suspended its notifications dating back to January 17, 20, 27, and February 3 “to the extent of the following constituencies and reserved seats falling in the province of Punjab till further orders of the Lahore High Court”.
The electoral watchdog said the de-notification of 27 MNAs from Punjab stood suspended along with the de-notification of five female legislators from Punjab.
These included Aliya Hamza Malik, Kanwal Shauzab, Andleeb Abbas, Asma Hadeed, and Barrister Maleeka Ali Bokhari.
The ECP statement added that the commission would also delay holding elections for the seats until further orders from the LHC.
Earlier, the LHC had suspended the ECP’s de-notification of all PTI MNAs from Punjab.
The PTI had resigned en masse from the lower house of parliament following the ouster of PTI chief Imran Khan in April last year.
Subsequently, NA speaker Ashraf accepted only 11 of the resignations, stating that the remaining lawmakers would be summoned individually for verification.
After stalling the process for eight months, Ashraf had on Jan 17, accepted the resignations of 34 more PTI MNAs and Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid while three days later on Jan 20, the speaker accepted 35 more resignations.