The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has decided to contest by-elections on 20 seats of Punjab Assembly that fell vacant after the de-notification of 25 PTI MPAs, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Sunday.
PTI Punjab President Shafqat Mehmood said, “There will be full participation by the PTI in by-elections on the seats vacated by the de-notified lawmakers.”
He added, “Loyal candidates of the party will be awarded tickets to contest elections. The ‘Lota’ politics will be completely eradicated from the constituencies.”
Earlier, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had announced that by-elections on 20 seats of the Punjab Assembly would be held on July 17.
A notification issued by the ECP said that returning officers of the constituencies concerned would issue a public notice of the by-polls on May 31 and nominations would be received between June 4 and 7.
The notification also said that lists of the nominated candidates would be issued on June 8 and scrutiny of the nomination papers would be held by June 11.
It added that the last date for filing of appeals against acceptance or rejection of nominations by the returning officers would be June 15 and the appellate tribunal would decide the same on June 21.
The ECP said that the revised lists of candidates would be published on June 22 and candidates might withdraw their nominations by June 23.
The ECP added that the election symbols would be allotted to the contesting candidates on June 24, and polling would be held on July 17.
Reporter: Ali Akbar