ECP to notify Khan’s win on 7 NA seats

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday decided to confirm Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chief Imran Khan’s victory in seven constituencies of the National Assembly (NA) in by-elections held on October 16, 2022.

A three-member bench of the Election Commission, headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja, announced the verdict which had been reserved in December.

The ECP had taken notice of the PTI chief’s failure to submit details of election expenses within the stipulated time.

In its verdict announced today, the electoral body said that it ignored the delay in the submission of the details of the expenses and directed officials to notify Khan as the winning candidate, accepting the PTI plea.

According to election laws, “Every returned candidate shall, within five days from the date of the election, submit return of election expenses in accordance with the provision of section 29.”

“On receipt of the returns of the election under sub-section (3) of section 24, the Commission shall publish in the official Gazette the names of the returned candidates: Provided that the name of a candidate shall not be published who fails to submit the return of election expenses as required by sub-section (3) of section 24.”

The by-polls were conducted on nine NA seats that fell vacant after the National Assembly speaker accepted the resignations of PTI MNAs, who had tendered resignations en masse as per party policy.

According to the by-election results, Khan won the NA seats from Mardan, Charsadda and Peshawar in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Faisalabad and Nankana Sahib in Punjab and the Korangi district of Karachi in Sindh.