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The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Sunday postponed by-polls on 37 National Assembly (NA) seats -- scheduled for March 16 and 19 -- in Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Balochistan and Islamabad, in compliance with the orders issued by various courts, reported Geo News.
By-polls were scheduled to be held on over 60 NA seats this month. ECP had said that all pending elections for the NA seats would be held this month. The NA seats fell vacant as the electoral watchdog de-notified Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers after Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf accepted their resignations, reported Geo News. 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 ECP has postponed the by-elections on as many as 24 National Assembly seats scheduled to be held this month in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In Sindh, by-elections scheduled to be held in nine NA constituencies have been postponed by the electoral watchdog. The ECP has postponed the by-election in the NA-265 Quetta-II constituency by complying with the order of the Balochistan High Court (BHC) till further the court. Meanwhile, in pursuant to the order of the Islamabad High court (IHC), the ECP has postponed the by-polls on the three NA constituencies till further order of the court. Pakistan at the moment is engulfed in political chaos and economic crisis due to former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's desperation for elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the ruling coalition's delaying tactics to defer elections and prolong its tenure as much as possible. Earlier in the day, PTI Chairman postponed party's election rally in Lahore after the Punjab's caretaker government imposed Section 144. Taking to his official Twitter handle, Imran Khan said that it appears that Section 144 has been imposed "illegally solely" on PTI election campaign as all other activities are ongoing in Lahore. Imran Khan tweeted, "It seems again Sec 144 has been imposed illegally solely on PTI election campaign as all other public activities are ongoing in Lahore. Only Zaman Park has been surrounded by containers & heavy police contingent. Clearly, like 8 March, Punjab CM & police want to provoke clashes. Defending his decision to defer the rally, Khan said that he got scared after seeing the turnover of the PTI supporters and was afraid that there might be bloodshed if everybody came out, reported Geo News. (ANI)
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