ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday issued notices to 23 members of the Punjab Assembly in connection with the dual nationality issue, DawnNews reported.

A hearing of the references filed against the provincial assembly members is scheduled to be held on Feb 7.

Those who have been served a notice include Rana Babar Hussain, Farrukh Javed, Raza Ali Gilani, Muhammad Yaar Hiraj, Arifa Khalid Pervaiz, Zaeem Qadri and Shamsheer Wattoo amongst others.

Last year in September, the apex court had ruled that lawmakers holding dual nationalities were not eligible to hold any public offices and had declared all such lawmakers as disqualified.

Following the verdict, the election commission had directed lawmakers of the national and provincial assemblies to submit affidavits affirming they did not hold dual nationalities.

Also today, the election commission called a high-level meeting for Wednesday (Feb 6) to be chaired by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Fakhruddin G Ebrahim.

The meeting is expected to discuss fresh delimitation of constituencies in Karachi as well as review the ongoing process of door-to-door voter verification in the city.

The government’s request for reversing the ban on new appointments at the federal, provincial and local government levels is also expected to come under consideration during the meeting.