By-elections for vacant seats in K-P are being contested by the PTI.
A petition presented before the PHC asserts that holding elections on April 30 would be contrary to the constitution and a waste of money.
PESHAWAR: On Tuesday, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) petitioned the Peshawar High Court (PHC) to invalidate the April 30 by-elections in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).
According to the petition, the by-elections will be place on April 30 in accordance with the election dates set for NA 22, 24, and 31.
Elections cannot, according to the petitioners, be held 120 days prior to the general elections.
The government would have declared a date within 120 days, according to the PTI, if it were serious about holding elections.
By-elections, according to the petition, will not only be a waste of money but also a constitutional aberration. It went on to say that adhering to the schedule was also likely to lead to numerous additional constitutional issues.
The party further asserted that the resignations were never individually confirmed, casting doubts regarding the acceptance of the resignations that had originally caused the seats in the National Assembly to be empty.
According to the rulings of the relevant high courts, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) called off by-elections in 37 National Assembly constituencies earlier this week.
The resignations of PTI legislators earlier this year were accepted by National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, which led to the by-elections.
On April 11 of last year, a total of 123 PTI MNAs abruptly announced their resignations, two days after party chairman Imran Khan was forced out of his position as prime minister by a vote of no-confidence.
The speaker of the House accepted the resignations of 34 PTI legislators and one Awami League (AML) official on January 17.
The ECP denotified 43 PTI legislators on January 25 and two days later announced that 33 National Assembly seats will be filled by by-elections on March 16. In February, 31 additional by-polls for March 19 were also announced.
