Key party leaders Imran Khan, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Shahbaz Sharif are all set to contest general elections from multiple constituencies from across Pakistan.

But is this really in the best interest of the people they want to represent?

While the exercise allows leaders to feel more secure about returning to the National Assembly andlends credence to them being ‘national leaders’, it also comes with a huge cost to common Pakistanis:

If a candidate wins more than one seat, rules allow them to retain only one which means that they have to relinquish the other on which by-elections take place.

So after every general election, by-polls on multiple seats across the country take place — and mind you, they’re not an inexpensive exercise. These by-polls cost taxpayers their hard-earned money.

There also remains a risk of the party losing the by-election once the main candidate relinquishes the seat, the most famous recent example of which was the NA-1 seat which was won by ANP after Imran Khan decided to let it go.

Do you still think it’s a good idea for top party leadership to contest elections on more than one seat?