NA-249: ECP serves show-cause notices to PPP leaders over violation of election code

KARACHI: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday issued show-cause notices to Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) NA-249 candidate Qadir Khan Mandokhail and MNA Abdul Qadir Patel over violation of the ECP code of conduct, ARY News reported.

According to details, a monitoring team of the ECP issued the notice to the PPP leaders for “trying to influence the elections” in the NA-249 constituency.

The ECP has also issued notice to the PPP MNA from Malir  Agha Rafiullah over violation of code of conduct.

The major political parties who have fielded their candidates for the important NA-249 Karachi by-poll have intensified their respective election campaigns as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has fixed April 29 as the polling date for the bye-election.

The NA-249 seat had fallen vacant after Faisal Vawda of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) resigned from the National Assembly for his Senate seat. In the 2018 general elections, Vawda had defeated PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif in the constituency with a narrow margin.

Read More: Mustafa Kamal opposes postponement of NA-249 by-election

Keeping in view the recent spike in COVID-19 cases in the province, the Sindh government on Monday formally requested the ECP to postpone by-election in National Assembly constituency NA-249 Karachi.

In a letter to the ECP, the Sindh government urged the election body to postpone the scheduled by-poll in the concurrency until the coronavirus pandemic was brought under control.

The country was facing the third wave of the pandemic and COVID-19 cases rose by over seven per cent in Karachi and Hyderabad during the past week, read the letter.

Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Miftah Ismail and PSP’s Mustafa Kamal had also opposed the postponement of by-elections in a letter written to the ECP.