By-elections on 20 Punjab Assembly seats on July 17

The seats are left vacant by the de-seating of PTI dissidents

ISLAMABAD:

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced that the by-polls on the 20 vacant seats of Punjab Assembly will be held on July 17.

The nomination papers for the candidates will be accepted from June 4 to 7, and will be scrutinised on June 11.

The election tribunal will decide on the appeals by June 21, while nomination papers can be withdrawn by June 23.

The by-polls will be held on PP-7, PP-83, PP-90, PP-97, PP-125, PP-127, PP-140, PP-158, PP-167, PP-168, PP-170, PP-202, PP-217, PP-224, PP-228, PP-237, PP-272, PP-273, PP-282 Layyah and PP-288.

On May 20, the election supervisor had de-seated 25 MPAs of the PTI for defying party directives and voting for Hamza Shehbaz for the post of the Punjab chief minister.

The reference against the dissident lawmakers sent by Punjab Assembly Speaker Pervaiz Elahi was accepted by the election watchdog for violating Article 63-A which pertains to defection.

The much-awaited verdict had gained political weightage in the wake of the Supreme Court’s verdict on a presidential reference, seeking its interpretation of Article 63-A, related to the disqualification of lawmakers over defection.