ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan in a bid to set a record announced his candidature on all nine seats in the Sept 25 elections.

The nine seats are among the 11 vacated after acceptance of resignations of PTI MNAs by the National Assembly speaker, and their de-notification, last week.

The announcement that Mr Khan will contest from all nine constituencies first came from PTI’s official Twitter account, and was later confirmed by the party’s Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry while speaking at a press conference.

The nine constituencies where by-elections will be held on Sept 25 are NA-22 Mardan, NA-24 Charsadda, NA-31 Peshawar, NA-45 Kurram, NA-108 Faisalabad, NA-118 Nankana Sahib, NA-237 Malir, NA-239 Korangi Karachi and NA-246 Karachi South.

ECP announces Sept 25 by-polls on seats vacated after acceptance of 11 PTI lawmakers’ resignations

National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf had, on July 28, accepted the resignations of 11 PTI MNAs — nine on general seats and two on reserved seats for women — sparking a controversy over piecemeal acceptance of resignations. These lawmakers were among the more than 120 who had resigned from their NA seats en masse on April 11, two days after former prime minister Imran Khan was ousted from the top office in a no-confidence vote.

The PTI leaders whose resignations were accepted and who were also de-notified as lawmakers by the ECP, included Ali Muhammad Khan, Fazal Muhammad Khan, Shaukat Ali, Fakhar Zaman Khan, Farrukh Habib, Jamil Ahmed Khan, Muhammad Akram Cheema, Abdul Shakoor Shad, Dr Shireen Mazari, Shandana Gulzar Khan and Ijaz Ahmed Shah. Dr Mazari and Shandana Khan had been elected on reserved seats for women.

During the 2018 general elections, the PTI chairman had contested elections from five constituencies and had emerged victorious on all of them. He had defeated PML-N’s Khawaja Saad Rafique in NA-131 Lahore, former premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi of the PML-N in NA-53 Islamabad, the late Syed Ali Raza Abidi of the MQM-Pakistan in NA-243, Ubaidullah Khan of the PML-N in NA-95 Mianwali and Akram Khan Durrani in NA-35 Bannu.

According to the ECP, candidates could submit their nomination papers between Aug 10 and 13, which would be scrutinised by Aug 17, while election symbols would be issued to the candidates on Aug 29. The last date to decide appeals against the acceptance and rejection of nomination papers, by the appellate tribunal, is Aug 25.