An election tribunal on Thursday declared the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTII) Chairman Imran Khan’s nomination papers valid for NA-22 Mardan, allowing him to contest the by-election in the constituency.
The tribunal was hearing an appeal against the approval of the former prime minister’s nomination papers for the constituency.
The petitioner’s lawyer argued that Imran Khan is already a member of the National Assembly and has not given any reason to contest the election from another constituency. It must be noted that Imran Khan is an MNA from the NA-95 Mianwali-I constituency. His resignation in protest after he was ousted from premiership via a no trust vote has not yet been accepted by NA Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf.
At this, the lawyer of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said that there is no ban on contesting elections from more than one constituency.
On the occasion, Imran Khan’s lawyer took the stand that his client has resigned and can no longer be considered an MNA.
The election tribunal reserved its verdict after hearing the arguments of the lawyers. Announcing it after some time, it declared it has dismissed the petitioner’s appeal and found Imran Khan’s nomination papers to be valid.
The development follows the PTI chairman being allowed by a Lahore High Court (LHC) election tribunal to contest elections from the NA-108 Faisalabad and NA-118 Nankana Sahib constituencies.
The by-election on nine NA seats will be held on September 25. The seats were vacated by the PTI after the resignations of 11 lawmakers were accepted by the NA Speaker on July 28 – nine of whom were on general seats and two on reserved seats for women. The MNAs were denotified on July 30.
In protest against the ouster of Imran Khan from the top office following a vote of no confidence, more than 100 PTI lawmakers had resigned en masse on April 11.
A notification issued by the ECP said by-elections will be held in NA-22 Mardan, NA-24 Charsadda, NA-31 Peshawar, NA-45 Kurram, NA-108 Faisalabad, NA-118 Nankana Sahib and Karachi’s NA-237, NA-239, and NA-246.
