Imran Khan files nomination papers for nine NA seats

By Mumtaz Alvi & Arshad Yousafzai
August 14, 2022

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s nomination papers on Saturday were filed from all the nine constituencies of the National Assembly.

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The PTI chief and former premier has decided to contest by-elections in the nine constituencies of the National Assembly. For the first time in the country’s electoral history, a candidate will contest from nine constituencies simultaneously.

He will be facing candidates from the multi-party ruling coalition, as his nomination papers have been submitted from constituencies NA-22, 24, 31, 45, 108, 118, 237, 239 and 246: Mardan, Charsadda, Peshawar, Kurram, Faisalabad, Nankana, Malir, Korangi and Karachi’s District South. Hence, he will be contesting from constituencies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh.

Similarly, the process of the filing of papers of the PTI’s covering candidates in all the nine constituencies has also been completed.

The PTI’s Shandana Gulzar, Rohaila Hamid and Mehwish Ali Khan are also in the fray for the reserved seats for women.

According to the schedule released by the Election Commission, polling in these nine constituencies will be held on September 25. The electoral process was initiated following the acceptance of the resignations of eleven members of the National Assembly, belonging to the PTI a few days back.

National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf had on July 28 accepted the resignations of these PTI lawmakers. Obviously, two MNAs had made their way to the legislature on the reserved seats for women.

If Khan wins from all the nine constituencies, then he will have to choose one except eight constituencies and he is already a member of the National Assembly from the Mianwali seat. Back in 2018 general election, the PTI chairman had set a record by winning from constituencies. But he had retained the Mianwali seat.

In case, he wins the electoral process, by-elections will be held again in the nine constituencies of the National Assembly and in this case once again the election will cost a minimum of Rs50 million.

The PTI’s plea was rejected last week by the Islamabad High Court, seeking the suspension of the election schedule for nine National Assembly seats issued by the ECP. The IHC had contended let the electoral process continue, adding that the process of by-elections in 123 constituencies would also be completed later.

IHC Acting Chief Justice Aamer Farooq had heard the case filed by the PTI challenging the election schedule in nine constituencies. Its lawyer had argued they wanted the IHC to halt the by-elections schedule, to which the court asked the lawyer to present legal reasons for his request.

The lawyer said a petition was pending before the IHC against phase-wise acceptance of resignations of the PTI’s MNAs and that 123 PTI MNAs tendered resignations and the by-elections schedule should be issued on all the constituencies, instead of nine only.

Karachi contest

Seventy-six candidates, including PTI Chairman Imran Khan, submitted their nomination papers on Saturday to contest the September 25 by-elections for three National Assembly seats from Karachi.

Former prime minister Khan’s nomination papers for the NA-237, NA-239 and NA-246 constituencies were filed by PTI Sindh leaders. The party has also chosen two covering candidates for NA-237 and NA-246.

The PTI chief has decided to contest for all the nine constituencies that fell vacant after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) de-notified 11 MNAs of the party — nine on general seats and two on reserved seats.

Former Sindh governor Imran Ismail submitted Khan’s nomination form for NA-246 (South-I), Captain (retd) Jameel submitted the nomination form for NA-237 (Malir-II) and MPA Raja Azhar submitted the nomination form for NA-239 (Korangi-I).

Jameel also filed his own nomination form for NA-237, while former MNA Shakoor Shad filed his nomination form for NA-246, which he had won in the 2018 general elections. They will be Khan’s covering candidates in the two constituencies.

As for the other candidates, Muhammad Tariq, Rehan Mansoor, Mushtaq Ahmed and Asad Azad filed their nomination forms for NA-239 as independent candidates. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s Amir Khan, Syed Nayyar Raza and Sikandar Khatoon also filed their nomination forms for the three constituencies.

The Pakistan Peoples Party’s Abdul Hakeem Baloch filed his nomination form for NA-237, Noman Abdullah Murad for NA-239 and Yousaf Baloch for NA-246. Maulana Noorul Haq of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl and Muhammad Junaid of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan have also filed their nomination forms for NA-246.

August 13 was the last date for submitting the nomination forms for next month’s by-elections. According to the ECP, 21 candidates have submitted their nomination forms for NA-237, 31 for NA-239 and 24 for NA-246.

The ECP will release the names of the candidates who have filed their nomination papers on Sunday (today). Last week the electoral body had issued the schedule for by-polls for nine NA seats, and fixed September 25 as Election Day. The ECP sought names from the PTI for the vacant reserved seats after two women members had resigned. Nominations for the reserved women’s seats were to be submitted between August 10 and 13.

According to the schedule, the list of the nominees will be released today, scrutiny will take place on August 17, appeals against the returning officer’s decision can be submitted by August 20, and a decision will be made by the appellate tribunal on August 25.

The revised list of candidates will be released on August 26, following which candidates can withdraw their nomination forms until August 27. The final list of candidates will be released by August 29, and election symbols will be allotted the same day.

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