The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has withdrawn the schedule for the by-election being held on the Senate seat associated with Murad Saeed following his disqualification.
According to the Election Commission, Murad Saeed had never taken the oath as a senator and therefore had not formally assumed membership of the Senate. As a result, no Senate seat became vacant following his disqualification.
The ECP accepted an application filed by PML-N MPA Jalal Khan and stopped the by-election process. The commission also withdrew the schedule issued for the Senate by-election.
The Election Commission issued a detailed decision on the application filed by Jalal Khan.
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During the hearing before the ECP, the lawyer representing Jalal Khan argued that Murad Saeed had not taken the oath. He questioned how a seat could become vacant when the member had never taken the oath.
The applicant’s lawyer requested that the election on the Senate’s vacant seat be postponed.
Murad Saeed had previously been declared disqualified under Article 63(1)(h) after receiving a 10-year sentence from an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi, following which his Senate seat was declared vacant.
