In his reply, the speaker said that he had no power to restore Rana’s seat after her resignation.
In July 2009, Rana had resigned under party pressure after a theft and misuse of credit card case was registered against her at the Ghalib Market police station.
In her petition, Rana said that after the registration of the case, a committee of PML-N members comprising Senator Pervez Rashid, MNAs Pervez Malik, Muhammad Ajmal, and Naseem Sadiq was formed. She also made PML-N parliamentarians Khawaja Saad Rafique, Zulfiqar Khosa and Raja Ashfaq Sarwar party to her case, saying that they were present at every committee session. Rana said that these leaders harassed her into resigning.
She also said that the theft case against her was concocted and baseless. Rana said that on July 25, 2009, one of the PML-N members grabbed her resignation by force and gave it to the speaker. She said that the speaker accepted her resignation even though she had never submitted it herself. On March 1, 2010, Rana said, she was acquitted by a court of law. She said the speaker acted illegally in accepting her resignation.
According to Rule 35 of the Provincial Assembly Punjab 1997, Rana said, the speaker should have conducted an inquiry before accepting any resignation. Rana prayed that the court declare the acceptance of her resignation illegal and without lawful authority.
She also prayed that the notification issued by the Punjab Election Commission to de-notify her as MPA be declared illegal and the respondents be directed to notify her as MPA.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 16th, 2010.
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