ECP announces by-election schedule on 23 vacated seats

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced the schedule for by-elections on 23 vacated seats of the National and provincial assemblies.

According to the ECP schedule, polling on the 23 vacated seats will take place on April 21.

It said that aspirants can submit their nomination papers by March 18.

The ECP said that the scrutiny of candidates for the by-election will be completed by March 21, and objections to the nomination papers can be raised until March 25.

The ECP will decide on these objections by March 28.

As per the schedule, the final list of candidates will be published on March 28, while the electoral symbols will be allotted to the candidates on March 30.

The announcement of by-elections on April 21 is to fill seats that were vacated by representatives who were elected on more than one seat but they chose to retain one seat.

Several representatives elected to the National Assembly opted to keep their provincial assembly seats including Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz who retained the provincial assembly seat and vacated the National Assembly seat.

Similarly, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who won two seats, retained the National Assembly seat and vacated the Punjab Assembly seat.