ECP asks winners to retain only one seat

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Thursday said all the successful candidates winning two or more seats in the general elections were required to retain just one seat.

The commission said according to Article (3)223 of the Constitution, before taking a seat in any assembly, the successful candidate himself or his authorized representative should resign from all the seats except one.

As confirmed by the oath commissioner, the request for withdrawal of the seat or seats can be submitted to the chief election commissioner, the Election Commission of Pakistan Secretariat Islamabad or the office of the Provincial Election Commissioner Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan; otherwise, all the seats will be considered vacant after 30 days under Article (2)223, except for the seat on which the candidate is the last but has been declared successful.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission Thursday dismissed the petitions mainly filed by the PTI-backed candidates challenging the elections in NA-47 and NA-48. Shoaib Shaheen contested the election from NA-47 and Muhammad Ali Bokhari from NA-48.