ECP announces by-polls for NA seats vacated by PTI

Polling for 33 National Assembly seats will be held on March 16; nominations forms to be submitted between February 6-8

Nausheen Yusuf

January 27, 2023

A policeman outside the Election Commission of Pakistans office in Islamabad. — AFP/File — A policeman outside the Election Commission of Pakistan's office in Islamabad. — AFP/File

NA seats had fallen vacant after NA speaker accepted the resignations of 34 PTI MPs and AML chief.
Candidates will be able to file their nomination papers between Feb 6-8.
Election symbols to be allotted on February 23.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced on Friday that it will hold by-polls for 33 vacant National Assembly (NA) seats on March 16.

The NA seats had fallen vacant earlier this month when NA Speaker Raja Parvez Ashraf accepted the resignations of 34 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers and Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid.

The PTI resigned en masse in April last year after the ouster of Imran Khan but only 11 resignations were accepted in July.

The speaker had announced that he would verify all the remaining resignations individually but he moved swiftly, accepting 113 more resignations after the PTI chief announced to return to the assembly.

S.no	Constituency	S.no	Constituency	S.no	Constituency	S.no	Constituency
1.	NA-04 Swat-III	10.	NA-53 Islamabad-II	19.	NA-126 Lahore-IV	28.	NA-247 Karachi South-II
2.	NA-17 Haripur-I	11.	NA-54 Islamabad-III	20.	NA-130 Lahore-VIII	29.	NA-250 Karachi West-III
3.	NA-18 Swabi-I	12.	NA-57 Rawalpindi-I	21.	NA-155 Multan-I	30.	NA-252 Karachi West-V
4.	NA-25 Nowshera-I	13.	NA-59 Rawalpindi-III	22.	NA-156 Multan-III	31.	NA-254 Karachi Central-II
5.	NA-26 Nowshera-II	14.	NA-60 Rawalpindi-IV	23.	NA-191 Dera Ghazi Khan-III	32.	NA-256 Karachi Central-IV
6.	NA-32 Kohat	15.	NA-62 Rawalpindi-VI	24.	NA-241 Korangi Karachi-III	33.	NA-265 Quetta-II
7.	NA-38 D.I. Khan-I	16.	NA-63 Rawalpindi-VII	25.	NA-242 Karachi East-I
8.	NA-43 Khyber-I	17.	NA-67 Jhelum-II	26.	NA-243 Karachi East-II
9.	NA-52 Islamabad-I	18.	NA-97 Bhakkar-I	27.	NA-244 Karachi East-III

Election schedule

According to the election schedule announced by the ECP today, candidates will be able to file their nomination papers between February 6-8.

The names of the candidates will be published on February 9 and the returning officers (RO) will carry out the scrutiny of the nomination papers till February 13.

The last date to file appeals against the RO’s decision on the acceptance or rejection of nomination papers is February 16.

According to the election schedule, the last date for the appellate tribunal to decide on the appeals is February 20. After this, the revised list of candidates will be published on February 21.

The last date to withdraw candidature and release of revised list of candidates is February 22 while the election symbols will be allotted on February 23 and the polls will be held on March 16.

PTI resignations

So far, the resignations of 123 PTI MNAs have been accepted and all have been denotified.

The PTI resignations were accepted by NA Speaker Ashraf in four stages. Initially, only 11 resignations were accepted, while 34 resignations were accepted on January 17, another 35 on January 20, and 43 resignations were approved on January 24.

The by-polls are being held on the resignations that were accepted on January 17. However, the by-polls are being held for only 33 seats as two were reserved seats for women.