ECP schedules NA-154 by-election for Feb 12

ISLAMABAD: Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday notified that by-poll in the NA-154 (Lodhran) constituency would be held on February 12.

The seat fell vacant after the disqualification of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and party’s former general secretary Jahangir Khan Tareen after the top court disqualified him last week.

ECP has set December 26-28 as the dates when candidates will be able to file nomination papers. The list of candidates will be published on January 16, 2018, after the completion of scrutiny of nomination papers on January 5.

Moreover, the election symbols will be allotted to the finalised candidates on January 18, read the notification.

The seat of the NA-154 constituency in Lodhran fell vacant after the Supreme Court (SC) disqualified Tareen for “non-declaration of his property/asset i.e. ‘Hyde House’ in his nomination papers, and in making an untrue statement” in the court, on a petition filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Hanif Abbasi.

The SC, however, rejected the petition seeking disqualification of PTI chief Imran Khan in the same case. Tareen later stepped down as the secretary general of the party, after saying that the court had disqualified him on a “mere interpretation of the trust deed”.