ISLAMABAD: PTI on Monday filed a petition against the acceptance of 11 resignations of its members of National Assembly (MNAs) in the Islamabad High Court (IHC), challenging the “pick and chose” policy in this regard.
The Election Commission of Pakistan on Friday denotified 11 PTI MNAs, which include Ali Muhammad, Fazal Muhammad Khan, Shaukat Ali, Fakhar Zaman Khan, Farrukh Habib, Ijaz Ahmad Shah, Jameel Ahmed, Muhammad Akram, Abdul Shakoor, Shireen Mazari and Shandana Gulzar.
NA Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf had on Thursday accepted the resignations by exercising the powers conferred under Clause (1) of Article 64 of the Constitution of Pakistan.
These members had tendered their resignations from their National Assembly seats after the ouster of former prime minister Imran Khan through the no-trust motion in April.
The petition was filed by PTI Secretary General Asad Umar today at the IHC.
Speaking to the media outside the court, Umar said the PTI has approached the IHC against the ECP’s decision to accept the resignations of 11 members of the assembly.
“All the PTI members resigned in front of the whole country. All resignations should be accepted together,” he said.
Criticising the ECP yet again, the PTI leader said that the election commission has become a part of the PDM and a “political player”.
He added that the PTI will file a reference against the ECP.
Umar claimed that the decision to accept the resignations is illegal and PTI did not want to be part of the alleged US-backed “conspiracy”, which is why they resigned from the assembly.
“ECP accepted the resignations of their own choice,” he further said.
