KARACHI: Senior Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader Dr Farooq Sattar on Thursday tendered his resignation as member of the party’s coordination committee and the party swiftly nominated Amir Waliuddin Chishti as its candidate for the NA-243 by-election.

The resignation was, however, yet to be accepted by the coordination committee.

The by-election on NA-243 is scheduled to be held on Oct 14. The seat was vacated by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan, who had chosen to retain his another NA seat, i.e. from his hometown constituency.

A brief statement issued by the party said that Mr Chishti would contest the by-poll but it did not have any word about Dr Sattar’s resignation.

However, a spokesman for the party late in the evening confirmed Dr Sattar having tendered his resignation. “The resignation has not been accepted ... a decision about it will be taken after talks with him, expected to be held later in the evening,” he said.

Only last week, Dr Sattar had claimed that the PTI had offered him to contest for the NA-247 on its ticket. The seat was won by PTI’s Dr Arif Alvi, who abandoned it to become the President of Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2018