The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday announced that by-elections on 33 National Assembly (NA) seats, which lie vacant after the NA speaker accepted the resignation of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNAs, will be held on March 16, reported Aaj News.

The by-polls will take place in Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore, Multan, Rawalpindi, Khyber, Jhelum, Bhakkar among other cities.

Forms will be available to candidates between February 6-8 and their names will be published on February 9. Returning officers (RO) will carry out the scrutiny of the nomination papers till February 13. The ECP will allot election symbols on February 23.

On April 11, 2022, as many as 123 PTI MNAs resigned en masse after former prime minister Imran Khan was ousted through a no-confidence motion.

In July 2022, NA Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf accepted the resignations of 11 PTI members. On January 19, he accepted 34 additional resignations while on January 20, 35 more were approved, taking the total number to 80.

On January 24, 43 more resignations of PTI lawmakers were accepted and the total number now stands at 113.

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