By-polls should opposition resign, says ECP

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said on Monday that by-elections would be held if the National Assembly Speaker accepted the resignation of the opposition lawmakers from the lower house of parliament.

The 11-party opposition alliance, Pakistan democratic Movement, is on an anti-government campaign and had warned of en masse resignations from the assemblies to force the government to call fresh general elections in the country.

However, the country’s law is silent on the number of resignations of members of the National Assembly. But on any vacant seat, the ECP is responsible for holding by-elections on the vacant seat within 60 days.

According to the ECP spokesperson, if the resignations of the members of the National Assembly were accepted, there would be a by-election. A past precent in this regard is the resignation of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) members of the National Assembly in 2014 but then speaker Speaker Ayaz Sadiq did not accept the resignations.

On the other hand, on the resignation of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) National Assembly member Chaudhry Hamid Hameed from Sargodha, the spokesperson of the National Assembly said that the National Assembly Secretariat and the Speaker had not received the resignation. “Upon receipt of Hameed’s resignation, action will be taken as per law,” the spokesperson said.