NA-133 by-election: PTI's Jamshed Iqbal Cheema resigns as SAPM

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Jamshed Iqbal Cheema has resigned as Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Food Security following his nomination as the party candidate for NA-133, ARY NEWS reported.

Cheema has sent his resignation to Prime Minister Imran Khan after he was appointed as the PTI candidate for the NA-133 Lahore.

The lower house seat from Lahore was vacated due to the death of PML-N MNA Pervaiz Malik, who passed away recently after suffering a cardiac attack.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced to hold the by-election in NA-133 constituency on December 05.

Interested candidates could submit their nomination papers to the ECP from October 21-25, the ECP announced in its schedule for the election.

Ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was the first to announce its candidate after it awarded a party ticket to Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Food Security Jamshed Iqbal Cheema for contesting the by-election from NA-133 Lahore.

The announcement was made by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister for Political communication Dr. Shahbaz Gill in a post shared on his official Twitter handle.

In a Tweet, SAPM said that a meeting of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Lahore parliamentary board was held in Islamabad with PM Imran Khan Imran in the chair.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has yet to formally announce a candidate for the by-election in Lahore’s NA-133 constituency. Several intending candidates are active in PML-N to get the party’s ticket for the National Assembly seat.

PML-N leader Attaullah Tarar also working to get the PML-N ticket for NA-133 seat, sources said.

Moreover, Khawaja Hassan, Naseer Bhutta, Hafiz Noman, Mahar Ishtiaq, Faisal Khokhar and several other local leaders vying for the party’s ticket to contest the by-election, sources further said.