NA-45 by-polls
PESHAWAR
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday issued another notice to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman and former Prime Minister Imran Khan for not appearing in a case of violating the code of conduct.
Earlier on October 26, the ECP had served notice on Imran Khan for violating the code of conduct before the by-polls in district Kurram.
Despite the summon, Imran Khan did not appear, after which the ECP issued a second notice to PTI chairman Imran Khan here on Friday.
The notice issued to PTI chairman read, “ Your (Imran Khan) were called upon to appear in person or through your counsel on 27th October before the undersigned, to explain your position regarding violation of para-8 of code of conduct issued by the ECP, but you failed to appear on the above-mentioned date and time”.
The notice was issued by Abdul Rauf Khan, District Monitoring Officer (DMO) Kurram in connection with code violation set by ECP for by-polls in NA-45 Kuraam-I where PTI chairman Imran Khan is a contestant.
The electoral watchdog has announced by-polls in the constituency on October 30.
The first notice was issued to former prime minister Imran Khan for utilizing the ‘services and assistance’ of a provincial minister for electioneering in the aforementioned constituency.
However, PTI chairman Imran Khan did not appear before the DMO on Oct 27.
In the second notice, DMO has directed Imran Khan to appear before him or send in counsel in his office on October 29 (today).
“You are once again called upon to appear in person or through your counsel before the undersigned on 29-10-2022 positively, failing which it will be presumed that you have nothing to say in your defense and the violation has been committed, which will be dealt with according to law,” the notice warned Imran Khan.
It is pertinent to mention here that NA-45 was one of the four constituencies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where polling for the by-elections were scheduled to be held on Oct 16 but the ECP postponed it and later on fixed it for Oct 30.
The ECP has completed the process of by-elections in the other three-constituencies which include NA-22 Mardan, NA-24 Charsadda and NA-31 Peshawar. PTI chairman contesting the by-elections on all these constituencies emerged victorious.
According to details shared with media by the ECP, the candidates for NA-45 Kurram by-election include PTI chairman Imran Khan, Jamil Khan of JUI-F, Sher Mohammad Khan of JI and independent candidates Mohammad Zahir Shah, Sarfaraz Khan, Abdul Khaliq, Shah Nawaz Khan, Khalilur Rehman, Abdul Qadir, Mohammad Shoaib, Sadiq Khan, Jehanzaib, Niaz Badshah, Eid Gul Mengal and Saifullah Khan.
Former PTI MNA Fakhar Zaman, who vacated the seat of NA-45 Kurram-I is also in the running as a covering candidate for its party chairman Imran Khan.
A total of 198,618 voters, including 111,349 men and 87,262 women, are eligible to vote.
As all polling stations in the constituency have been decelerated sensitive, ECP has deputed the personnel of police, Frontier Crops and Pakistan Army to perform security duty on Oct 30.
