ECP de-notifies Qasim Suri as National Assembly member

Electoral body orders re-election in NA -265

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan de-notified National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri on Wednesday after Balochistan High Court election tribunal declared his election null and void over rigging allegations.

The electoral body has ordered re-election in NA -265 (Quetta II).

Suri, who was elected to the NA in last year’s general elections and later won the deputy speaker’s seat, was disqualified by the tribunal headed by Justice Abdullah Baloch, on the petition of rival candidate Nawabzada Lashkari Raisani of the Balochistan National Party (BNP).



He has already challenged the election tribunal’s decision in the Supreme Court. The petition was filed by Advocate Naeem Bukhari on behalf of Suri which stated that the deputy speaker could not be blamed for irregularities in the elections.

“The tribunal did not consider the facts of the matter,” the petition added.

According to him, a total of 114,000 votes were cast in his constituency out of which a huge number of votes were declared invalid.

During the court hearings, the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) had submitted a report on the orders of the tribunal, which suggested it could not verify more than 52,000 votes cast in 2018 poll.