ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday asked the winners of more than one seat in the May 11 elections to vacate all but one seat and inform the commission about their decisions by June 10.

A senior official of the ECP told reporters that those who failed to inform the ECP of their decisions by the deadline would not have the option of retaining the seats of their choice as the matter would be decided by the ECP in line with article 223 of the constitution.

He said that under the law those elected to more than one seat either in different houses of the parliament or in one house of the parliament and a provincial assembly or in the same body were required to keep one seat and vacate all others within 30 days of the declaration of the result for the last such seat. Those who did not do so, would lose all the seats except the one they had been elected to last.

If they had been elected to more than one seat on the same day, the seat for which the nomination forms were filed last would belong to him/her, and all others would stand vacated.

Quite a few politicians, including prime minister-in-waiting Nawaz Sharif, chief minister-designate Shahbaz Sharif, PTI chief Imran Khan, JUI-F head Maulana Fazlur Rehman, key PML-N leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Jamshed Dasti, were elected to more than one seat.

Some of them were yet to convey to the ECP their decisions regarding the seats they wanted to retain.

BAN LIFTED: The ECP lifted the ban on carrying and displaying arms placed by it prior to the general elections.

A letter sent to the interior secretary and the four provincial chief secretaries said: “Since the election process has culminated in the country, hence the Election Commission of Pakistan has been pleased to withdraw the ban with immediate effect.”

Though the display of arms is already illegal under the law, the ECP besides other substantial clauses had incorporated a ban on display of weapons and arms of all sorts in its code of conduct. A separate notification placing ban on display of arms and weapons had also been issued.

The ECP also notified on Tuesday a schedule for a vacant seat reserved for women in the provincial assembly due to non-availability of the priority list of PML-Z. The political parties under the law are required to submit their priority lists within the period fixed for filing of nomination papers.

Under the schedule, June 6 and June 7 have been set as the dates for filing of nomination papers with the returning officers.

June 10 has been set as the date for scrutiny of nomination papers while June 12 is the last date for appeals against the decision of the returning officer. June 14 is the last date for deciding appeals. The revised list of candidates will be published on June 16.

The ECP also notified Belum Hasnain of the PPP as the returned candidate on a seat reserved for women in the National Assembly from the province of Punjab. The notification came after a draw held for the seat between her and Tanzeela Amir Cheema of the PML-Q.