The Lahore High Court (LHC) suspended on Wednesday National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf’s decision to accept the resignations of 43 PTI lawmakers and put by-elections in 43 constituencies on a hold.
The judgement was pronounced by Justice Shahid Karim on a petition filed by PTI MNAs against the NA speaker’s acceptance of their resignations and the Election Commission of Pakistan’s de-notification orders.
The court also issued notices to the federal government, NA Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
The LHC issued directives on a plea filed by Riaz Fatyana, Nasarullah Khan, and other PTI leaders challenging the acceptance of their resignations as MNAs by Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf.
In the petition, the PTI leaders accused NA speaker of accepting resignations to ‘politically victimize’ the opponents. They pleaded with the court to nullify the decision of speaker Raja Pervaiz Asharaf and the order of the Election Commission of Pakistan.
On Jan 25, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) de-notified 43 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) members of the National Assembly (MNAs) following the acceptance of their resignations by NA Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf.
After the announcement of PTI MNAs’ return to the National Assembly, the federal government made a move to accept their resignations in an apparent bid to reduce the number of opposition lawmakers.
The de-notified PTI MNAs included Riaz Fatyana, Sardar Tariq Hussain, Mohammad Yaqub Sheikh, Murtaza Iqbal, Sardar Mohammad Khan Leghari, Zile Humma, Rukhsana Naveed, Ghazala Saifi, Nousheen Hamid, Sobia Kamal Khan and others.
Ashraf had already accepted resignations of 70 PTI members last month in two phases.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf had announced resignations from the National Assembly on April 11 last year, minutes before the election of Shehbaz Sharif as the new prime minister.
