By-poll preparations in Punjab enter final phase

 The ECP had announced the exercise in 20 constituencies of the province.

July 13, 2022

Islamabad:

Preparations for the July 17 by-elections to 20 Punjab Assembly seats are in the final stages as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has completed the printing of 5 million ballot papers. (Today) will start from Wednesday.

On May 20, the Election Supervisor de-seated 25 PTI MPs for violating party guidelines and voting for Hamza Shehbaz for the post of Punjab Chief Minister.

A reference sent by Punjab Assembly Speaker Pervez Elahi against dissident legislators was accepted by the ECP for violation of Article 63-A, which related to defection. The much-awaited judgment had acquired political significance in the wake of the Supreme Court verdict on the Presidential Reference, which sought to interpret Article 63-A, which dealt with disqualification of legislators on impeachment.

On May 25, the ECP announced that by-elections to 20 seats would be held on July 17.

According to the details, the Election Monitoring Organization has completed the printing of 5 million ballot papers for the by-elections of 20 constituencies of Punjab. The delivery of ballot papers printed at the Printing Press Corporation will start from Wednesday (today). Ballot papers will be handed over to authorized representatives of Returning Officers under tight security. All the ballot papers have been printed in the federal capital.

By-elections will be held on July 17 in PP7, PP83, PP90, PP97, PP125, PP127, PP140, PP158, PP167, PP168. The constituencies are PP 170, PP 202, PP 217, PP 224, PP 228, PP 237, PP 272, PP 273, PP 282 Leh and PP 288.

With the PTI alleging that attempts were being made to rig the by-elections, the ECP had announced that elections would be held in 20 constituencies of the province based on old voter lists.

Currently, the PTI needs to win about 14 seats to regain the coveted office from the PML-N, while a loss of more than six seats would mean a switch to independent candidates, which is currently Given the circumstances, unlikely. For both parties, a return to office would also ensure their new mandate in the next general election.