Aamir Liaquat’s seat likely to remain vacant till NA term end

ISLAMABAD: The seat of National Assembly (NA-245 Karachi) fallen vacant due to the death of Aamir Liaquat Hussain will remain vacant till the end of the tenure of the incumbent National Assembly, where Mahmood Molvi Baqi of the PTI was elected last week.

Well-placed sources told The News here on Wednesday that currently, three members of the National Assembly (MNAs) of the PTI had to take oath of membership, but hadn’t opted to go for it.

It is understood that if the members-elect take oath of membership and as per party policy tender their resignations, their respective seats will become vacant again and the party will have to contest by-elections. For the reason, it has been decided by the PTI leadership that so elected members wouldn’t take oath.

The sources reminded that if Imran Khan contested nine seats as per his announcement and secured victory, the seats would remain vacant till the completion of the NA tenure. The sources said the PTI won the by-election for NA-33 Hangu (KP) in April this year where Nadim Khan Khayal returned as successful candidate.

He is the son of deceased member Khayaluz Zaman of the PTI and didn’t take oath of membership even after the three sessions of the National Assembly. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had also issued a notification of the returned candidate.

The sources pointed out that the notification of the election of the PTI candidate from Karachi was likely to be issued next week. The sources said Mahmood Molvi would also not take oath of membership like Nadim Khayal. Yet another member of the National Assembly Asiya Azeem Chaudhry, belonging to the PTI, wouldn’t take oath as per policy of the party.

She became MNA on the vacated seat of Dr Shireen Mazari, elected from Punjab on woman seats. She submitted her resignation on April 9 and it was later accepted by NA Speaker. The constituents of the vacant seats would be unrepresented in the NA till the last day of the NA despite the fact that they had elected their members twice to represent them since 2018.