March 04, 2008	Tuesday	Safar 25, 1429

ISLAMABAD, March 3: No political party has informed the Election Commission (EC) about any elected independent MNA joining them, official sources told Dawn here on Monday.

The sources said that informal announcements were made by various independent candidates about joining different political parties after having been elected Members of the National Assembly, but no political party had formally informed the EC.

The secretary of EC Kanwar Muhammad Dilshad told Dawn that the independent candidates who had won in the elections were required to join a political party within three days of the announcement of official results.

Mr Dilshad said that Tuesday (today) was the last date for the independents to join political parties. He said that successful independent candidate was required to apply to the leader of a political party and the leader of the party was required to inform the EC about it as per the rules.