Former foreign minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Sunday that party chief Imran Khan would contest in by-elections on all 33 National Assembly seats that fell vacant after the resignations of the PTI lawmakers.

The announcement was made after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced that by-polls on 33 NA seats would be held on March 16.

The NA seats had fallen vacant after NA Speaker Raja Parvez Ashraf accepted the resignations of PTI lawmakers, who had resigned en masse on April 11 last year after Imran Khan was ousted as the prime minister through a no-confidence motion. However, on April 17, Ashraf directed the assembly secretariat to deal with the resignations of the PTI lawmakers afresh and present them before him so that they could be treated as per law.

“We have decided to participate in the by-elections and Imran Khan will contest from all seats,” Qureshi said on Sunday in a press conference following the meeting of the party’s core committee at Imran Khan’s Zaman Park residence in Lahore.

Qureshi said that the meeting reviewed the country’s political and economic situation.

He said that it would be a violation of the constitution if the by-election in all the constituencies were not held on time.