Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) has decided not to take part in the by-elections.
The MQM-P Coordination Committee meeting presided over by Senior Deputy Convener Nasreen Jamil decided to not participate in the by-polls.
MQM Pakistan convener Dr. Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui also confirmed the decision of the coordination committee, which claimed that it had decided not to contest the by-elections seeing the economic situation of the country.
However, the MQM had earlier announced that it was not necessary for the party to agree with the PDM and it would take the decision seeing the situation of the country.
The members of the coordination committee after the detailed deliberation decided not to go to the elections as the general elections are going to be held after few months so participating in the by-election will be burden on the economy of the country and the waste of time and money.
Senior Deputy Convener Mustafa Kamal, Deputy Convener Abdulseem, Anees Qaim Khani and Khawaja Izharul Hasan, Federal Minister Aminul Haq and members of the Coordination Committee participated in the meeting.
Earlier, sources said that the MQM-P Pakistan has already decided against participating in the by-elections on National Assembly seats at the suggestion of its coalition partners.
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They said the decision to boycott NA by-polls was taken in a meeting held between MQM-P leaders and Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori.
The final decision to contest or boycott NA by-polls would be taken in MQM’s Rabita (Coordination) Committee meeting, said sources.
The move came after the ruling coalition contacted MQM-P following Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) condition that it will not contest by-elections on vacant NA seats only if Awami National Party (ANP) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) boycott the upcoming polls.
The upcoming by-elections for the 33 NA seats, which fell vacant after Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf accepted the resignations of the PTI lawmakers.
Following the speaker’s decision, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had announced the by-elections for the 33 constituencies on March 16.
