Islamabad (PTI): Jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s party has decided to boycott the upcoming by-elections for national and provincial assemblies, in line with the opinion of its founder.

Several seats of the national and provincial assemblies became vacant last month after the conviction of leaders of Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for their involvement in the May 9, 2023 riots.

The decision to boycott the by-elections was taken by the party’s political committee, which met to consider Khan’s input following a meeting with his legal team at Adiala Jail on Tuesday, The Dawn newspaper reported.

Earlier in the day, Khan’s message was relayed to the media by his sister, Aleema Khan, who also met the 72-year-old cricketer-turned-politician in prison.

She was flanked by PTI secretary general Salman Akram Raja — whose resignation was reportedly turned down by Khan.

Denying reports of a bitter exchange with Raja, she said the lawyer was “like family” to them.

She said her brother had asked the party’s political committee to hold another meeting on the by-election issue based on his instructions.

Later on Tuesday night, PTI lawmaker Amir Dogar confirmed that the political committee had endorsed Khan’s opinion on not contesting the by-elections, adding that party lawmakers would also start quitting parliamentary bodies soon.

A day earlier, the party’s political committee had voted 12-9 to take part in the by-elections.

PTI’s information secretary Sheikh Waqqas Akram had even posted on social media that candidates would be given Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) tickets to avoid the chances of their being declared ‘independents’.

Talking to Dawn, former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser confirmed that in Khan’s opinion, the party should not go into by-elections, and that its lawmakers should leave all parliamentary standing committees, including the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

“Parliament has already been made a rubber stamp, as the voice of the opposition members has been suppressed by not telecasting their remarks on the floor of the house,” he said.

“Khan was of the view that the government will not let the PTI candidate win by-elections… [and] if [we] take part in the elections, it will legitimise the government’s illegal action of de-seating PTI legislators,” he added.

Political analyst Ahmed Bilal Mehboob said it was quite unfortunate that the decision taken by the party’s political committee to contest by-elections was reversed by Khan.

The PTI is more of a “one-man show” than any other political party, he said.

Last week, Pakistan’s two major political parties in the current ruling dispensation — the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) — announced to jointly contest the upcoming by-elections.

As per the schedule issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the by-elections will be held on September 18 for the NA-66 Wazirabad, NA-129 Lahore-XIII, and PP-87 Mianwali-III constituencies.

It would be followed by elections in NA-143 Sahiwal-lll, NA-185, DG Khan-ll, PP-203 Sahiwal-Vl, NA-96 Faisalabad-II, NA-104 Faisalabad-X, and PP-98 Faisalabad-l on October 5, the ECP said.