NA Speaker accepts resignations of 35 PTI MNAs
ISLAMABAD ( Web News )
National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf on Tuesday accepted 35 resignations tendered by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) National Assembly members (MNAs).
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) subsequently de-notified the MNAs over the acceptance of the resignations. dunyanews reported.
The PTI MNAs include Pervaiz Khattak, Hammad Azhar, Fawad Chaudhry, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Asad Qaisar, Murad Saeed, Shafqat Mehmood, Sheharyar Afridi, Zartaj Gul, Alamgir Khan, Noor ul Haq Qadri, Sadaqat Ali Abbasi, Ali Nawaz Awan, Ali Amin Khan, and others. Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rasheed s resignation has also been accepted.
Earlier, the PTI and the ruling coalition in the NA had been at daggers drawn to each other over the Speaker s delay in acceptance of resignations by the PTI MNAs.
It is pertinent to mention here that the PTI had announced mass resignations from the lower house of parliament on April 11, a day after the ouster of then prime minister Imran Khan through a vote of no-confidence. The party wanted Mr Ashraf to accept the resignations collectively, however, the speaker insisted that he would accept these one by one after the personal appearance of each member in line with constitutional requirement.
On July 28, the speaker accepted the resignations of only 11 PTI lawmakers. The PTI challenged the move in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in August but court dismissed the petition saying the political dispute should be resolved in the Parliament.