Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief and former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has filed the nomination papers from all nine constituencies of the National Assembly, Geo News reported on Sunday.
On August 6, the PTI chief announced that he will contest bypolls on all the nine vacant Assembly seats after the Election Commission of Pakistan released the schedule for it.
Khan's announcement to contest the bypolls on all nine seats has startled many, with some commentators questioning if the PTI chairman could not find any other suitable candidate and the expenses to be incurred on the subsequent by-elections should Imran Khan win multiple seats and quits all but one.
A petition was filed in Lahore High Court over Imran Khan's decision to contest elections on all nine vacant seats. The petitioner, Mian Asif Mehmood, Punjab president of the Amun Taraqqi Party, had requested the court to restrain the PTI chairman from contesting the by-elections on all nine seats in the "interest of the country". However, the LHC dismissed the plea.
Election Commission of Pakistan had announced that by-elections on nine National Assembly (NA) seats will be held on September 25.
The poll body announced the schedule for the constituencies of NA-22 Mardan, NA-24 Charsadda, NA-31 Peshawar, NA-45 Kurram, NA-108 Faisalabad, NA-118 Nankana Sahib, as well as NA-237 Malir, NA-239 Korangi Karachi and NA-246 Karachi South.
The nine seats are among the 11 vacated after acceptance of resignations of PTI MNAs by the National Assembly speaker, and their de-notification, last week, following the removal of the party chief Imran Khan from the office of the Prime minister earlier this year.
The NA speaker had accepted the resignations of 11 PTI MNAs, including nine on general seats and two on reserved, under Article 64(1) of the Constitution of Pakistan.
On July 28, National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf accepted the resignations of the PTI Lawmakers three months after the en-mass resignation of the lawmakers on April 11 following the ouster of the former prime minister Imran Khan from the top office after the no-confidence motion moved by the joint opposition in the parliament against him succeeded.
( With inputs from ANI )
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