Imran Khan to contest by-elections in all 33 National Assembly vacant seats

ISLAMABAD – In a surprise move by the former ruling party, the ousted prime minister Imran Khan has decided to contest by-polls in all 33 seats of the National Assembly, that fell vacant after the resignations of the PTI lawmakers.

Several PTI leaders confirmed the development, with Fawad Chaudhry taking it to Twitter to announce that Imran Khan will be the candidate of Tehreek-e-Insaf on thirty-three seats in the by-elections.

تحریک انصاف تمام نشستوں پر الیکشن لڑے گی اور عمران خان ان تینتیس نشستوں پر تحریک انصاف کے امیدوار ہوں گے

— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) January 17, 2023

PTI Secretary General Asad Umar also told a local media outlet that the populist leader will be the party candidate for all these constituencies, calling it a symbolic election.

Justifying the unusual move, the former finance minister said so we do not need to nominate other candidates, as this is not a ‘real election’. He also revealed that the resignations of all the PTI leaders have been accepted in fear of their return to the house, which according to him is a real threat to the coalition government.

On Tuesday, National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf accepted the resignations of lawmakers of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, which is deliberating an option to put Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in the test through a trust vote bid.

Murad Saeed, Omar Ayub Khan, Asad Umar, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Hammad Azhar, Shafqat Mehmood, Asad Qaiser, and Ali Zaidi are among the PTI bigwigs who have been denotified by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) after the speaker accepted their resignations.

Earlier in 2022, the ousted premier won six National Assembly seats for his party in a by-election that was touted as a direct contest between the former ruling party and the ruling alliance.