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LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) stayed the Election Commission of Pakistan’s notification de-notifying 43 MNAs of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf on Wednesday (PTI).
Justice Shahid Karim of the LHC heard the matter and barred the commission from holding by-elections in the 43 constituencies until further directions were issued. The court also served notices on the federal government, NA Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, and the Pakistan Election Commission (ECP).
On a petition submitted by Riaz Fatyana, Nasarullah Khan, and other PTI leaders protesting Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf’s acceptance of their resignations as MNAs, the LHC gave instructions.
PTI leaders claimed in the appeal that the NA speaker had accepted resignations in order to “politically victimize” the opposition. They urged the court to overturn Raja Pervaiz Asharaf’s ruling and the Pakistan Election Commission’s directive.
ECP order
Following the acceptance of their resignations by NA Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf on January 25, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) de-notified 43 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) members of the National Assembly (MNAs).
The federal administration moved to accept their resignations after it was announced that PTI MNAs will rejoin the National Assembly in an apparent effort to slash the number of opposition legislators.
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 were among PTI MNAs who had their notifications revoked. 70 PTI members had previously submitted their resignations to Ashraf last month in two stages.
It is important to note that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf made resignation announcements from the National Assembly on April 11 of last year, just before Shehbaz Sharif was chosen to be the country’s next prime minister.
