ISLAMABAD: Almost four months after he was elected, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) de-notified PTI Chairman Imran Khan as a member of the National Assembly on six seats.

Mr Khan won these seats in Oct 2022 when he contested as a PTI candidate from eight constituencies in two by-elections.

The six seats declared vacant by the ECP under Article 223 (2) of the Cons­titution include NA-22 (Mar­dan), NA-24 (Char­sadda), NA-31 (Peshawar), NA-108 (Faisalabad), NA-118 (Nankana Sahib), and NA-239 (Korangi). These seats were won by Mr Khan during the Oct 16 by-election.

The PTI chairman will remain MNA on NA-45 (Kurram) which he bagged later on Oct 30.

The Constitution bars a lawmaker from holding more than one seat in any house of parliament at one time.

Article 223(2) stated that any candidate, who had won multiple seats, should resign from all but one seat they wish to retain. This must be done within 30 days from the day when the victory notification for the last seat was issued.

In this case, the ECP issued the notification of Mr Khan’s victory on seven seats on Jan 19. He had until Feb 19 to retain one seat of his choice, which he failed to do.

The Article added that if the candidate didn’t relinquish the seats, they would automatically become vacant after thirty days except for the seat to which they were elected last — in this case, the NA-45 (Kurram) which Mr Khan won on Oct 30.

Earlier, the ECP had delayed the notification of Mr Khan’s victory after he failed to submit details of expenses incurred on the campaign — a legal prerequisite for the notification.

The by-polls on nine seats were held after the National Assembly speaker accepted the resignations of PTI lawmakers who resigned en masse in April, following Mr Khan’s ouster as prime minister through a no-confidence vote. Mr Khan contested eight vacant seats and emerged victorious on seven, losing one to PPP`s Abdul Hakeem Baloch in Karachi’s Malir area. On one seat in Multan, PTI leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi’s daughter Mehr Bano Qureshi had contested the election but lost to PPP’s Ali Musa Gilani.

ECP suspends de-notification order

The ECP has also suspended the order de-notifying 32 PTI MNAs whose resignations were accepted by the speaker.

The lawmakers had challenged the speaker’s action and their subsequent de-notification in the Lahore High Court (LHC) which directed the ECP to suspend the order.

The ECP had denotified 34 PTI lawmakers on Jan 17, 35 on Jan 20, followed by 43 on Jan 25.

The commission has also suspended the order announcing polls on the seats.

As many as 70 MNAs had filed the petitions with the LHC. However, the judge, only extended the interim relief to lawmakers elected from Punjab and advised the others to approach relevant courts.The members also resigned as part of the en masse resignations tendered in April 2022.

Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2023