The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday suspended a notification from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for declaring NA-246 Lyari as vacant on the request of PTI lawmaker Shakoor Shad. The ECP declared the seat vacant after National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf accepted resignations of 11 PTI MNAs. Shakoor Shad, however, later approached the court and pleaded that he had not submitted the resignation personally and it was rather forwarded by the party to which he had submitted to show solidarity with the then prime minister Imran Khan. The IHC today directed the PTI MNA Shakoor Shad to join the proceedings of the National Assembly and issued notices to speaker and National Assembly secretariat for their response on the matter. It is pertinent to mention here that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has postponed the scheduled by-elections in 13 constitutions. The decision was taken by the ECP in a high-level session chaired by chief election commissioner (CEC) Sultan Sikandar Raja regarding the organisation of by-elections. It has been decided that the by-polls scheduled for September 11, September 25 and October 2 will be postponed and the new dates will be announced soon. The election commission said that the by-poll was deferred due to the devastating rains and floods.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-INP