IHC suspends resignations of three PTI leaders

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday suspended the acceptance notification of resignations of three Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) lawmakers, barring the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) from conducting by-polls on their seats.

Chief Justice Amir Farooq presided over the hearing and issued orders on the case in which PTI leaders Asad Umar, Raja Khurram and Ali Nawaz Awan had challenged the acceptance of their resignations from the National Assembly.

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In the petition, the PTI members had taken the stand that the ECP had accepted the resignations of some party leaders in the notification issued on January 17, when the resignations of all 123 members should have been accepted and all should have been de-seated.

Last month, the Lahore High Court (LHC) had suspended the ECP’s order de-notifying 43 PTI MNAs and restrained the polls supervisory body from holding by-polls in those constituencies.

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The court had also suspended the National Assembly speaker’s notification under which the resignations of the former ruling party’s lawmakers were accepted and had issued notices to the quarters concerned seeking their replies.

The resignations of the PTI MNAs were approved in four phases since July 2022 – 11 in the first phase; 35 each in the second and third phases and 43 in the fourth one.

The lawmakers had resigned from the lower house of parliament in protest against the ouster of Imran Khan as the prime minister through a vote of confidence in April last year.