• The NA seats had fallen vacant earlier this month.
• Candidates can file their nomination papers from Feb 6-8.
• The names of the candidates will be published on Feb 9.

ISLAMABAD: Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced that it will hold by-polls on 33 vacant National Assembly (NA) seats on March 16.

The NA seats had fallen vacant earlier this month when NA Speaker Raja Parvez Ashraf accepted the resignations of 34 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers and Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid.

The PTI resigned en masse in April last year after the ouster of Imran Khan but only 11 resignations were accepted in July.

The speaker had announced that he would verify all the remaining resignations individually but he moved swiftly accepting 113 resignations after the PTI chief announced to return to the assembly.

According to the election schedule announced by the ECP today, candidates will be able to file their nomination papers between February 6-8.

The names of the candidates will be published on February 9 and the returning officers (RO) will carry out the scrutiny of the nomination papers till February 13.

The last date to file appeals against the RO’s decision on the acceptance or rejection of nomination papers is February 16.

According to the election schedule, the last date for the appellate tribunal to decide on the appeals is February 20. After this, the revised list of candidates will be published on February 21.

The last date to withdraw candidature and release of revised list of candidates is February 22 while the election symbols will be allotted on February 23 and the polls will be held on March 16.

So far, the resignations of 123 PTI MNAs have been accepted and all have been denotified.

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The by-polls are being held on the resignations that were accepted on January 17. However, the by-polls are being held on only 33 seats as two seats were reserved seats of women.