ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has decided not to contest the by-election from NA-53 Islamabad-II Constituency.
The by-election in NA-53 Islamabad will certainly take place any time soon after the Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan decided to retain his NA-95 Mianwali-I seat, wherein he took 1,65,518 votes in the election held on July 25.
Khaqan Abbasi contested the general elections 2018 on Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) ticket from NA-53 Islamabad-II and NA-57 Rawalpindi-I. However, he lost both the elections against Imran Khan and PTI’s Sadaqat Ali Khan respectively.
Abbasi took 44,314 votes in NA-53 against Imran Khan’s 93,110 votes, and 1,24,703 votes in NA-57 against Sadaqat’s 1,36,613 votes.
The former prime minister requested the Returning Officer (RO) for a recount in NA-57; however, his request was turned down.
On the other hand, apart from NA-53, by-elections will also be held in NA-131 Lahore-XI, NA-35 Bannu and NA-243 Karachi East-II as Imran Khan also secured victory in these Constituencies but now will have to abandon these.
Likewise, by-elections for National Assembly Seats will also take place in NA-65 Chakwal-II and NA-69 Gujrat-II (wherein Chaudhry Pervez Elahi won but later decided to retain his PP-30 Gujrat-III Seat), NA-59 Rawalpindi-III or NA-63 Rawalpindi-VII (wherein PTI’s Ghulam Sarwar won but now will have to retain one of these two), NA-55 Attock-I or NA-56 Attock-II (wherein PTI’s Tahir Sadiq won but now will have to retain one of these two) and NA-60 Rawalpindi-IV (wherein the election was postponed earlier after the arrest of PML-N’s Candidate Hanif Abbasi).