Sindh lawmaker steps down to win and 'gift' NA-249 seat to PM Imran Khan

KARACHI: A lawmaker from the Sindh Assembly has decided to step down ahead of the NA-249 by-polls so that he could win and "gift" the seat to Prime Minister Imran Khan.

"I have to win this seat no matter what so I can gift it to Prime Minister Imran Khan," PTI lawmaker Malik Shehzad Awan said Friday. "That's why I've submitted my resignation."

Awan submitted his resignation to Leader of the Opposition in Sindh Assembly, Haleem Adil Sheikh, after the PTI — his own party — snubbed him in giving a ticket for the NA-249 constituency.

Amjad Khan Afridi — the ruling party's candidate for NA-249, which had fallen vacant after the previously-elected Faisal Vawda stepped down following his Senate victory — was "unpopular in the constituency", he said explaining his decision.

Vawda, who is also associated with the PTI, had won from Karachi's NA-249 constituency during the 2018 general election but stepped down after winning a seat during the Senate elections earlier this month.

In its polling schedule for NA-249 issued earlier, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced that voting would take place in the constituency on April 29, 2021.