ECP de-notifies PTI’s Qasim Suri as NA member

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday de-notified Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Qasim Suri as member of National Assembly (NA). According to a notification, former NA deputy speaker was de-notified in light of a decision by an election tribunal. On September 27, the Election Tribunal of Balochistan declared National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri’s election from NA-265 (Quetta) null and void, and ordered reelection in the National Assembly constituency won by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). The election tribunal declared the election victory of the NA deputy speaker NA-265 as null and void. The tribunal ordered re-election in the constituency of NA-265. The election tribunal was headed by Justice Abdullah Baloch. The verdict was announced on the base of National Database & Registration Authority’s (Nadra) report. It the report, the Nadra identified more than 52,000 votes unverified, however, the election tribunal ruled in the light of the Nadra’s report. On the other hand, Qasim Suri has challenged his disqualification from the National Assembly seat in Supreme Court. Advocate Naeem Bukhari filed a petition in the Supreme Court (SC) pleading to declare the decision of the election tribunal as null and void. The counsel said in the plea that irregularities in the electoral process could not be attributed to his client. The petition also requested for an early hearing of the matter on tomorrow (Wednesday).