Schedule for by-polls on 20 Punjab PA seats announced

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Wednesday issued the schedule for the by-elections on 20 vacant general seats of the Punjab Assembly, which had fallen vacant after it had recently de-seated PTI’s dissident lawmakers for voting against the party policy.

According to the schedule, polling will take place on July 17 while nomination papers for the by-elections can be submitted from June 4 to 7 and this will be followed by the returning officers carrying out scrutiny of the nomination papers till June 11, whereas appeals against the returning officers’ decisions can be filed till June 15.

The Election Commission said in its notification that the tribunal would decide on the appeals by June 21 while the revised list of candidates would be posted on June 22. The last date for withdrawal of nomination papers is June 23, while the candidates will be allotted election symbols on June 24. The ECP has decided to hold the elections in accordance with Section 57 of the Election Commission Act 2017 and Section 102 (4) of Article 224 of the Constitution of Pakistan. 

The constituencies for which by-election schedule has been issued include: PP-7, Rawalpindi-2, PP-83, Khushab-II, PP-90, Bhakkar-II, PP-97, Faisalabad-1, PP-125, Jhang-II, PP-127, Jhang-4, PP-140, Sheikhupura-6, PP-158, Lahore-15, PP-167, Lahore-26, PP-168, Lahore-25, PP-170, Lahore-27, PP-202, Sahiwal-7, PP-217, Multan-7, PP-224, Lodhran-1, PP-228, Lodhran-5, PP-237, Bahawalpur-1, PP-272, Muzaffargarh-5, PP-273, Muzaffargarh- 6, PP-282, Layyah-3 and PP-288, Dera Ghazi Khan-4.

It may be recalled that the Election Commission had issued/terminated the membership of 25 dissident members, who voted in favour of the PMLN candidate Hamza Shehbaz in the election of chief minister. The membership of 20 members elected on the general seats of the Punjab Assembly, three on the reserved seats for women and two on the minority seats was terminated.