KARACHI: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has unveiled the schedule of by-elections in the NA-249 constituency of Karachi.
The seat was vacated by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Faisal Vawda who resigned to contest the Senate elections. The by-elections in the NA-249 Karachi constituency will be held on April 29.
According to the ECP, the nomination papers will be accepted from March 13 to 17. The process of scrutiny will start on March 25. The candidates will file their pleas with the appellate tribunal over the decisions of the Returning Officers by March 29.
The final list of candidates for the by-polls will be released on April 6, while the withdrawing candidates will be able to get their papers back until April 7. The candidates will be allotted their electoral signs on April 8, with the polls set to be held on April 29.
Federal Minister of Water Resources Faisal Vawda had tendered his resignation from the National Assembly after casting his vote in the Senate election on March 3. The PTI has not announced its candidate for the by-elections.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had decided to field former finance minister Miftah Ismail for the polls. He will be a joint candidate of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).
Vawda had won the seat during the 2018 General Election after securing 35,349 votes. PML-N’s Shehbaz Sharif came in second with 34,626 votes, while TLP’s Abid Hussain secured 23,981 votes. The voter turnout was 39.58 %. The registered number of voters in the constituency is 331,430.
