QUETTA: By-election on two Balochistan Assembly seats will be held on Oct 14.

Officials of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said that some people had acquired nomination papers for the election, but none of them had filed them on Tuesday.

The election for PB-35-Mastung was postponed after Balochistan Awami Party’s candidate Siraj Khan Raisani was killed in a suicide attack during his election campaign in the Dringarh area of Mastung district on July 12.

The tribal jirga headed by Siraj Raisani’s son Jamal Khan Raisani has decided to support former provincial minister Mir Asim Kurd alias Gello in the by-election for the seat. Mr Kurd had contested the elections on national and provincial assemblies’ seats from Kachhi-Bolan area last month, but lost.

The BAP has so far not awarded its tickets for the two vacant seats. It is learnt that Mr Kurd will contest the by-election as an independent candidate.

Former chief minister Aslam Raisani was contesting the election against his younger brother late Siraj Raisani, but so far it is not clear whether he will contest the by-election or not.

The PB-40 Khuzdar seat fell vacant when the successful candidate, Balochistan National Party-M chief Akhtar Mengal, chose to vacate this provincial assembly seat and retain the National Assembly seat. The BNP-M has also not issued its ticket to any candidate for this seat so far.

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2018