PTI dissidents term reference baseless

Twenty members of the National Assembly, belonging to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), have requested the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to toss out the references for their de-seating under Article 63-A of the Constitution.

The dissident PTI members said in their replies to election supervisor that the references against them were as baseless and false, arguing that they were still part of the former ruling party, therefore, there was no violation of the Article 63-A.

The replies have been filed by Noor Alam Khan, Ramesh Kumar, Raja Riaz, Riaz Mazari, Basit Bukhari, Farrukh Altaf, Amjad Khosa, Afzal Dhandla, Ahmad Hussain Dehar, Asim Nazir, Ghaffar Wattoo, Amir Talal, Sami Gilani, Wajiha Qamar, Nuzhat Pathan, Rana Qasim Noon and Jawariya Ahir.

They said that they had not left the PTI, adding that no evidence or material was provided in the references against them. They added that they did not receive any instructions from PTI Chairman Imran Khan. The members urged the ECP to reject the reference.