SHC suspends by-polls on 9 NA seats in Karachi

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday restrained the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) from holding by-polls on National Assembly (NA) seats in Karachi, ARY News reported,

The SHC issued the verdict on a petition moved by nine former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MNAs from Karachi against the acceptance of their resignations by the National Assembly speaker.

In the petition, they maintained that after the LHC verdict, the speaker could not issue any notification regarding acceptance of the resignations.

After hearing arguments, the SHC suspended the by-polls schedule which were to be held on March 16 and adjourned the hearing till March 25.

The by-elections were scheduled to be held in the constituencies of NA-241 Korangi Karachi-III; NA-242 Karachi East-I; NA-243 Karachi East-II; NA-244 Karachi East-III; NA-247 Karachi South-II; NA-250 Karachi West-III; NA-252 Karachi West-V; NA-254 Karachi Central-II; and NA-256 Karachi Central-IV.

Read more: PTI MNAS CHALLENGE RESIGNATION ACCEPTANCE IN IHC

The SHC orders comes days after Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Friday suspended the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) notification of holding by-elections on 24 NA seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

Earlier, the Lahore High Court (LHC) suspended the order of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) that denotified the party’s lawmakers elected from Punjab.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf had announced resignations from the National Assembly on April 11 last year, minutes before the election of Shehbaz Sharif as the new prime minister.