Disenfranchised: Speaker gets notice on resignations

LHC issued a notice to the Provincial Assembly speaker on a petition

LAHORE: Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday issued a notice to the Provincial Assembly speaker on a petition against alleged delay in acceptance of resignation of Leader of the Opposition Mahmoodur Rasheed. Petitioner Abdul Rasheed Sindhu said the speaker had no authority to reject or delay the resignation of an assembly member. He said if a member submitted his resignation, it was deemed accepted under Article 64 of the Constitution. He said Mahmoodur Rasheed had submitted his resignation two months ago. He requested the court to order the speaker to forward the resignation to the Election Commission of Pakistan. The petitioner said the leader of opposition had betrayed his voters by tendering resignation.  The judge sought a report from the speaker by November 20.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 31^st, 2014.