The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Wednesday announced it will boycott by-elections in constituencies from which its members have been disqualified following convictions in cases pertaining to the May 9, 2023 riots, fulfilling Patron-in-Chief Imran Khan’s instructions.
In a statement issued after a meeting of the PTI’s political committee—convened on Khan’s instructions—the party said it considered the disqualified lawmakers victims of a “political vendetta” and praised their sacrifices. Reaffirming its full support to the disqualified lawmakers, it said the party would not contest by-elections in their constituencies to register its protest.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has disqualified several PTI lawmakers following their convictions in cases related to the May 9 riots. It has announced by-elections for NA-66 (Wazirabad), NA-129 (Lahore-XIII), and PP-87 (Mianwali-III) constituencies on Sept. 18. Additionally, NA-143 (Sahiwal-lll), NA-185 (DG Khan-ll), PP-203 (Sahiwal-Vl), NA-96 (Faisalabad-II), NA-104 (Faisalabad-X), and PP-98 (Faisalabad-l) would see polls on Oct. 5.
The Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) have already announced they would jointly contest the upcoming by-elections.
The political committee’s statement also expressed concern over ongoing daily hearings of the Toshakhana case at Adiala Jail, claiming this violated the fundamental rights of the accused—Khan and his wife, Bushra. It said that the boycott decision did not apply to the NA-129 (Lahore) constituency, vacated by the death of Mian Azhar, adding the party would contest it.
The political committee also said that, on the instructions of Khan, all PTI lawmakers were resigning from all standing committees of the National Assembly, including the Public Accounts Committee. In this regard several PTI MNAs have submitted their resignations from various parliamentary committees.