By-election on vacant Senate seat on Dec 20: ECP

Staff Reporter – Islamabad:

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday unveiled the schedule for by-election on a vacant Senate seat from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

According to the schedule, the by-election on the Senate seat that fell vacant with the resignation of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Ayub Afridi as a member of the upper house of Parliament will be held on Dec 20.

Candidates intending to contest the by-election can submit their nomination papers from Nov 30 till Dec 2, after which the scrutiny of the papers will begin and continue until Dec 6.

Voting for the by-election will be held at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly.

On Nov 23, Afridi stepped down to create a seat for Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance Shaukat Tarin in the Senate. The ruling PTI plans to get Tarin elected as Senator from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

In a video message following the resignation, Afridi had said he had already submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Imran Khan but was told to wait until the joint sitting of Parliament is over.

“The Senate seat was the prime minister’s “amanat” (trust), which I happily returned,” he said, adding that he won’t take offence if he is not entrusted with any new responsibility.