PDM to not participate in by-polls on 35 NA seats: Maulana Fazlur Rehman

Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) head Maulana Falzur Rehman has announced that the PDM parties will not participate in the by-polls on the 35 vacant seats of the National Assembly, ARY News reported on Tuesday.

The announcement came after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) denotified more Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) after the NA speaker accepted their resignations.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman said that the PDM parties will issue a joint statement regarding the reasons for not contesting the by-polls on the NA seats.

Prior to the announcement, Maulana Fazl contacted the heads of the PDM parties and held consultations regarding the political situation of the country.

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They also discussed the upcoming by-polls on the vacant NA seats. The PDM parties have decided to not participate in the by-polls, sources said.

MNAs denotification by ECP

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has denotified more Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) after the NA speaker accepted their resignations.

After the announcement of PTI MNAs’ return to the National Assembly, the federal government made a move to accept their resignations in an apparent bid to reduce the number of opposition lawmakers.

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At the request of NA Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) denotified 35 more MNAs including top PTI leaders.

Prior to the latest move, the NA speaker put a condition to separately verify the resignations of the PTI lawmakers, however, the opposition party was urging Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to collectively approve the resignations.

In July last year, NA Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf had accepted the resignations of 11 PTI MNAs.