Tag: ECP

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced the postponement of by-elections in Punjab due to heavy rains and floods that have devastated infrastructure and disrupted administrative functions across the province.

As per the details, NA-66 Wazirabad, NA-96 Faisalabad, NA-104 Faisalabad, NA-129 Lahore and NA-143 Sahiwal are among the constituencies of the National Assembly where elections have been postponed. In the provincial assembly, the by-polls were postponed in PP-73 Sargodha, PP-87 Mianwali, PP-98 Faisalabad and PP-203 Sahiwal constituencies.

In an official notification, the ECP noted that floods have destroyed both public and private infrastructure, including school buildings that are typically used for polling stations and storage of election material.

The commission added that district returning officers (DROs) had reported that polling staff, mostly drawn from government departments, was currently engaged in rescue and relief operations, making it impossible to conduct elections.

“The decision to postpone the elections is in the public interest,” it said and added that polling would resume once the situation stabilises to ensure that elections are conducted with optimum security and full voter participation.

Meanwhile, the Punjab Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) has reported that several rivers in the province remain in spate with substantial water inflows being observed at key headworks.

According to the PDMA, the flow of water in the River Chenab at Marala Headworks has reached 117,000 cusecs, while at Khanki Headworks, it has risen to 248,000 cusecs. The discharge at Qadirabad Headworks stands at 385,000 cusecs and 554,000 cusecs at Chiniot Bridge.

At Trimmu Headworks, the flow is measured at 239,000 cusecs, whereas in Ravi, the flow at Jassar is 80,000 cusecs. The same stands at 110,000 cusecs at Ravi Siphon and 108,000 cusecs at Shahdara. The flow at Balloki Headworks has reached 138,000 cusecs.

In Sutlej, water discharge at Ganda Singh Wala is reported at 319,000 cusecs while at Islam Headworks, it stands at 102,000 cusecs. At Panjnad Headworks, the inflow has reached 224,000 cusecs.

Punjab Assembly Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan has filed disqualification reference with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) against 26 Members of the Provincial Assembly (MPA), citing unparliamentary conduct, rioting, and repeated violation of assembly rules.

On June 27, 2025, during a Punjab Assembly Session, opposition MPAs staged protests and caused a disruption in proceedings. In response, Speaker Khan suspended the membership of 26 MPAs- 17 were listed as belonging to the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC)- for the next 15 sittings of the provincial legislature.

The members reportedly raised slogans during Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Maryam Nawaz’s June 27 speech in the assembly.

According to an order issued by Speaker Khan, the suspended legislators “became disorderly, beyond all parliamentary reasoning and practices,” including tearing agenda papers and hurling torn pieces towards the treasury benches as well as using “offensive, abusive, and unparliamentary language and slogans”.

Khan, in his order, said he repeatedly tried to call the assembly to order, but the opposition “declined to act per the Rules and persisted with misconduct and disorder and kept challenging my orders and authority”.

The speaker Khan added that opposition MPAs had “disregarded [his] authority as speaker […] consistently and willfully obstructing the business of the assembly”.

The suspension order was issued under Rule 210 of the Punjab Assembly Rules of Procedure 1997, stating that the 26 MPAs violated four provisions of Rule 223, which were (c) (shall not interrupt any member while speaking by disorderly expression or noises or in any other disorderly manner), (f) (shall maintain silence when not speaking in the assembly), (h) (shall not chant slogans, display banners or placards, throw and tear table documents and reports, etc), and (i) (shall not indulge in rowdy behaviour).

Malik Fahad Masood, Muhammad Tanvir Aslam, Syed Riffat Mehmood, Yasir Mehmood Qureshi, Kalimullah Khan, Muhammad Ansar Iqbal, Ali Asif, Zulfiqar Ali, Ahmed Mujtaba Chaudhry, Shahid Javed, Muhammad Ismail, Khayal Ahmed, Shehbaz Ahmed, Tayyab Rashid, Imtiaz Mehmood, Ali Imtiaz, Rashid Tufail, Murtaza Iqbal, Khalid Zubair, Ijaz Shafi, Saima Kanwal, Muhammad Naeem, Sajjad Ahmed, Rana Aurangzeb, Shoaib Mir and Usama Asghar Ali Gujjar were among members, suspended by the provincial speaker.

Meanwhile, Media reports claim that the speaker visited the ECP office in Islamabad to formally submit the disqualification reference, which include evidence of the MPAs’ disorderly actions. The ECP is expected to review the references and decide on the lawmakers’ fate in accordance with legal provisions.