ISLAMABAD: As many as 15 seats in National Assembly, Punjab Assembly and Senate, previously held by lawmakers belonging to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), are presently vacant, of which all but one seat fell vacant due to the disqualification of related legislators by the electoral body.
These seats comprise of nine NA, four PA and two Senate seats.
With the issuance of by-election schedule by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for PP-73 Sargodha on Monday, by-polls on seven of the 15 seats—four NA and three PA—would now be held this 5 October.
These seats are: NA-96 Faisalabad, NA-104 Faisalabad, NA-143 Sahiwal, NA-185 Dera Ghazi Khan, PP-73 Sargodha, PP-98 Faisalabad and PP-203 Sahiwal.
By-elections on two NA seats and a PA seat— NA-66 Wazirabad, NA-129 Lahore and PP-87 Mianwali are scheduled on 18 September.
In addition, by-poll on one general Senate from Punjab is scheduled on 9 September.
Of the 15 seats, by-elections on four seats stand postponed due to stay orders issued by the respective courts. These seats are: one general Senate seat from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and three NA seats— NA-1 Chitral, NA-18 Haripur and NA-175 Muzaffargarh.
As many as 14 PTI legislators –Abdul Latif (NA-1 Chitral), Omar Ayub Khan (NA-18 Haripur), Ahmed Chattha (NA-66 Wazirabad), Rai Haider Ali (NA-96 Faisalabad), Sahibzada Hamid Raza (NA-104 Faisalabad), Rai Hassan Nawaz (NA-143 Sahiwal), Jamshaid Dasti (NA-175), Zartaj Gul (NA-185 Dera Ghazi Khan), Ansar Iqbal (PP-73 Sargodha), Ahmad Khan (PP-87 Mianwali), Junaid Afzal Sahi (PP-98 Faisalabad), Rai Murtaza Iqbal (PP-203 Sahiwal), and two senators Shibli Faraz and Ejaz Chaudhary were disqualified by the ECP following their convictions by the courts.
Except Dasti, other 13 lawmakers were disqualified by the ECP following their convictions by the Anti-Terrorism Courts (ATCs) concerned in 9 May riots’ cases.
Dasti was disqualified by the electoral entity on the charges of having fake educational credentials.
Of the 15 seats, NA-129 Lahore is the only seat that fell vacant due to a lawmaker’s death, and not due to a legislator’s disqualification, after PTI’s Mian Azhar passed away following protracted illness last month.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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