By Staff Reporter
Islamabad: National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf has accepted the resignations of another 43 lawmakers of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, virtually eliminating former prime minister Imran Khan’s party from the parliament, local media reported on Tuesday.
The development comes a day after 45 lawmakers of Khan’s party collectively withdrew their resignations from the National Assembly. They also requested the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) that they should not be denotified if the speaker approves their resignations.
However, the move failed to materialise because the speaker approved another 43 resignations and sent them to the ECP for their de-notification, Geo news TV reported.
“The NA Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf had sent a summary to the Election Commission of Pakistan after approving the 43 resignations a few days ago,’ it reported.
There is no official confirmation on the acceptance of more resignations by the National Assembly of election authorities.
At least 123 parliamentarians of PTI quit the National Assembly en masse after their chief was driven out of power last April in a vote of no-confidence.
But the speaker then did not accept their resignations and said he needed to individually verify if the lawmakers were resigning of their own accord. Later, Ashraf, a former prime minister, accepted long pending resignations of 70 PTI lawmakers in two phases.
Analysts said the speaker has accepted resignations apparently to thwart the party’s move to return to the lower house to get its opposition leader appointed,
As per the constitution, PM Sharif is also bound to consult the opposition leader to finalize a nominee for the caretaker prime minister before the elections, which are scheduled to be held in the latter half of this year. The current opposition leader, Raja Riaz, is a PTI dissident.
Khan, who blames his ouster on a Washington-backed “foreign conspiracy,” has been campaigning for snap polls in the country. Earlier this month, Khan’s PTI also dissolved the two provincial assemblies, in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where his party rules, in a bid to force the government to call early polls, which are otherwise scheduled for late this year.
The PTI said it would not accept any caretaker setup installed without their consultation to hold general elections.
PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry cried foul on reports of accepting the resignations of more party lawmakers.
The main purpose of PTI members going back to the assembly was to oust Raja Riaz from the position of the opposition leader,” Chaudhry said in a tweet.
“Right now, Shehbaz Sharif has lost the support of 172 members and is relying on lotas (turncoats) to save his government.”
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