Daily Times

In a relief for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday temporarily barred the Election Commission of Pakistan from holding by-elections on nine National Assembly constituencies in Karachi, where by-polls were scheduled to take place on March 16. The NA seats fell vacant as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) de-notified the PTI lawmakers after Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf accepted their resignations. More than 120 MNAs belonging to the PTI tendered their resignations en masse after Imran Khan’s government was ousted through a no-confidence motion in April last year. The SHC issued the order while hearing a petition filed by PTI’s Faheem Khan and others against the acceptance of their resignation by the NA speaker. The court, after hearing the arguments, suspended the notification issued by the ECP on January 13 for holding by-polls on the vacant NA seats. The counsels of the ECP and the federal government sought time to submit their reply in the case. The constituencies where by-elections have been put on halt include, 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-265 Quetta-II.