ISLAMABAD: All eyes are on 13 seats of two legislative houses, comprising seven National Assembly and six Punjab Assembly seats, where by-elections are scheduled today (Sunday).
Barring one, these seats were previously held by the lawmakers mainly belonging to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), some of whom had to contest the last year’s general elections on Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) tickets, or as independents, in the context of PTI election symbol row controversy.
NA-18 Haripur, NA-96 Faisalabad, NA-104 Faisalabad, NA-129 Lahore, NA-143 Sahiwal, NA-185 Dera Ghazi Khan, PP-73 Sargodha, PP-87 Mianwali, PP-98 Faisalabad, PP-115 Faisalabad, PP-116 Faisalabad, PP-203 Sahiwal and PP-269 Muzaffargarh are the seats where by-polls are scheduled today.
Of them, only one seat PP-269 Muzaffargarh was held by a lawmaker outside PTI. Mian Alamdar Abbas Qureshi from Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) won this seat in the general elections from February last year, but resigned a few weeks later, before a vote recount. The said seat was since vacant, as the matter remained pending in the superior judiciary.
At least 17 legislative seats in three legislative houses—NA, PA and Senate—mainly held by the PTI lawmakers, fell vacant in recent months.
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Of the 17 seats, NA-129 Lahore is the only seat that fell vacant due to a legislator’s death, and not due to their disqualification, after PTI’s Mian Azhar passed away following protracted illness this July.
The remaining 16 seats fell vacant in consequence of convictions of the PTI lawmakers by the courts.
These comprise eight NA, six PA, and two Senate seats.
The details of the respective lawmakers and seats are as follow: 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 Muzaffargarh), Zartaj Gul (NA-185 Dera Ghazi Khan), Ansar Iqbal (PP-73 Sargodha), Ahmad Khan (PP-87 Mianwali), Junaid Afzal Sahi (PP-98 Faisalabad), Shahid Javed (PP-115 Faisalabad), Muhammad Ismael (PP-116 Faisalabad), Rai Murtaza Iqbal (PP-203 Sahiwal), Shibli Faraz (Senate) and Ejaz Chaudhary (Senate).
Except Dasti, the other 15 lawmakers were de-seated by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) following their convictions by the Anti-Terrorism Courts (ATCs) concerned in 9 May riots cases.
Dasti was disqualified by the electoral body on the charges of having fake educational credentials.
By-elections on the two Senate seats have already been held. On one NA seat—NA-66 Wazirabad— Bilal Tarar from Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), the brother of Federal Information Minister Atta Tarar, has been declared as elected uncontested by the ECP. Moreover, by-election on two NA seats— NA-1 Chitral and NA-175 Muzaffargarh— are not being held, as the related cases remain pending in the superior courts.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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