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ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) suspended National Assembly (NA) Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf’s notification regarding the acceptance of PTI MNAs’ resignations from Islamabad on Wednesday, providing immediate relief to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
The IHC suspended the process of by-elections in the petitioners’ constituencies when it issued the interim order on petitions filed by Asad Umar, Ali Nawaz Awan, and Raja Khurram Nawaz.
An IHC judge heard a petition filed by three PTI MNAs, including former finance minister Asad Umar, Ali Nawaz Awan, and Khurram Nawaz, challenging two notifications: one issued by the National Assembly speaker, in which their resignations were accepted, and the second issued by the ECP, in which they were de-notified.
According to the petition, on 11-04-2022, PTI obtained en-masse letters from 123 members of the National Assembly, including the petitioners, and submitted them accordingly.
“The resignations were forwarded to ECP on 28.07.2022 in accordance with Rule 43 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly 2007, and ECP de-notified those eleven MINAs via a notification dated 29.07.2022. “In doing so, the Speaker violated the requirements of Article 64 as laid down by Pakistan’s Superior Courts for accepting resignations,” the petitioners contended.
The IHC decision comes just days after the Lahore High Court (LHC) suspended the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) order denotifying the party’s Punjab lawmakers.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf announced its resignation from the National Assembly on April 11, last year, just minutes before Shehbaz Sharif was elected Prime Minister.
Following the suspension of three more PTI MNAs’ de-notification orders, by-elections for 18 NA seats will be held on March 16.
By-elections will be held in the following districts:
By-elections will be held in the following constituencies:
NA-17 Haripur-I
NA-18 Swabi-I
NA-04 Swat-III
NA-26 Nowshera-II
NA-32 Kohat
NA-38 D I Khan-I
NA-43 Khyber-I
NA-25 Nowshera-I
NA-242 Karachi East-I
NA-243 Karachi East-II
NA-244 Karachi East-III
NA-241 Korangi Karachi-III
NA-247 Karachi South-II
NA-252 Karachi West-V
NA-254 Karachi Central-II
NA-256 Karachi Central-IV
NA-250 Karachi West-III
NA-265 Quetta-II
