Tariq Saeed Peshawar
Acceding to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf request, the Peshawar High Court on Friday postponed by-elections on National Assembly seats in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and suspended the Election Commission of Pakistan notification of holding polls on 24 NA seats in the province.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf , it may be recalled, had moved the PHC last week seeking the suspension of the Election Commission of Pakistan’s by-election schedule on 24 NA seats, scheduled to be held on March 16 and 19.
The PHC verdict came days after the Islamabad High Court suspended National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf’s notification regarding the acceptance of PTI MNAs’ resignations from Islamabad.
Likewise, a day earlier the Sindh High Court issued notices to the Election Commission of Pakistan, the NA speaker and others on a stay application filed by former PTI lawmakers from Karachi against the acceptance of their resignations by the speaker and by-elections announced on their seats.
A two-member bench comprising Justice Syed Muhammad Atique Shah and Justice Syed Arshad Ali announced the verdict in the case against the resignations of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf’s National Assembly members and the postponement of by-polls.
The by-elections were scheduled to be held in the constituencies of NA-4 Swat, NA-17 Haripur, NA-18 Swabi, NA-25 and NA-26 Noshehra, NA-32 Kohat, NA-38 Dera Ismail Khan and NA-43 Khyber.
