ECP de-notifies another PTI lot of 35 MNAs

The Election Commission of Pakistan on Friday de-notified 35 lawmakers of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf following the receipt of the de-notification request by the National Assembly speaker earlier in the day, reported 24NewsHD TV Channel.

The ECP de-notified PTI MNAs on 31 general seats and four reserved seats. 

Earlier in the day, National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf accepted another 35 resignations of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf lawmakers.

The National Assembly speaker after accepting the resignations sent the list to the Election Commission of Pakistan. The ECP de-notified the fresh lot of 35 PTI lawmakers after completing necessary action. 

قومی اسمبلی اسپیکر راجہ پرویز اشرف نے قواعد و ضوابط کے مطابق پی ٹی آئی کے مزید 35 ارکان اسمبلی کے استعفے منظور کر لئے_ pic.twitter.com/QokSWmn9hk

— National Assembly 🇵🇰 (@NAofPakistan) January 20, 2023

The speaker earlier had accepted resignations of 34 MNAs of the PTI and one resignation of Awami Muslim League Chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmad on Jan 17. 

The total number of resignations of PTI’s Members of National Assembly accepted by the speaker to date has risen to 80. 

List of PTI MNAs whose resignations were accepted

The names of PTI MNAs whose resignations were accepted on Friday are as follows:
The list provided of the MNAs, resignations of whom accepted by Raja Pervez Ashraf today, includes 1.Dr. Haider Ali Khan from NA-2,  2.Mr. Saleem Rehman from NA-3, 3.Sahibzada Sibghatullah from NA-5, 4.Mr. Mehboob Shah NA-6,  5.Mr. Muhammad Bashir Khan NA-7, 6.Mr. Junaid Akbar NA-8,  7.Mr. Sher Akbar Khan NA-9, 8.Mr. Ali Khan Jadoon NA-16, 9. Engr Usman Khan Tarakai NA-19, 10.Mr. Mujahid Ali NA-20, 11.Mr. Arbab Amir Ayub NA-28, 12. Mr. Sher Ali Arbab NA-30, 13.Mr. Shahid Ahmed NA-34, 14. Mr.Gul Dad Khan NA-40,  15.Mr. Sajid Khan NA-42, 16.Mr. Mohammad Iqbal Khan NA-44, 17. Mr. Aamer Mehmood Kiani NA-61, 18.Syed Faiz ul Hassan NA-70, 19.Ch. Shoukat Ali Bhatti NA-87, 20.Mr. Umar Aslam Khan NA-93, 21. Mr. Amjad Ali Khan NA-96, 22.Mr. Khurram Shahzad NA-107, 23.Mr. Faizullah NA-109, 24.Malik Karamat Ali Khokhar NA-135, 25.Syed Fakhar Imam NA-150, 26.Mr. Zahoor Hussain Qureshi NA-152, 27. Mr. Ibraheem Khan NA-158, 28.Mr. Tahir Iqbal NA-164, 29.Mr. Aurangzeb Khan Khichi NA-165, 30.Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar NA-177, 31. Mr.Abdul Majeed Khan NA-187, and 4 women elected on reserved seats, including 32.Ms.Andaleeb Abbas, 33. Ms.Asma Qadeer, 34.Ms. Maleeka Ali Bokhari AND 35. Ms. Munawara Bibi Baloch.

The PTI had resigned en masse from the lower house of parliament following the ouster of PTI chief Imran Khan in April last year. Subsequently, the NA speaker had accepted only 11 of the resignations, stating that the remaining lawmakers would be summoned individually for verification.

However, on Tuesday last, the NA Speaker accepted 35 resignations. 

The lawmakers who were de-notified on Jan 17 included: Murad Saeed, Omar Ayub Khan, Asad Qaiser, Pervaiz Khattak, Imran Khattak, Sheharyar Afridi, Ali Amin Khan, Noorul Haq Qadri, Raja Khurram Shahzad Nawaz, Ali Nawaz Awan, Asad Umar, Sadaqat Ali Khan, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Sheikh Rashid Shafique, Mansoor Hayat Khan, Fawad Ahmed, Sanaullah Khan Mastikhel, Hammad Azhar, Shafqat Mahmood, Malik Muhammad Amir Dogar, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Zartaj Gul, Faheem Khan, Saifur Rehman, Muhammad Alamgir Khan, Syed Ali Haider Zaidi, Aftab Hussain Saddique, Ataullah, Aftab Jehangir, Muhammad Aslam Khan, Muhammad Najeeb Haroon and Qasim Khan Suri.

Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf on Thursday defended his decision to accept the resignations of PTI lawmakers, saying he only did so after they were able to “satisfy him” by proving that it was a “voluntary decision and not under pressure”.

But the move has been seen as the government’s attempt to foil the PTI’s plan to come back to the house and bring a no-confidence motion against the prime minister and snatch the post of opposition leader in the National Assembly and Public Accounts Committee chairmanship. 

As many as 123 PTI MNAs had resigned en masse on April 11, 2022, after former prime minister Imran Khan was ousted through a no-confidence motion.

Last month, the PTI members wanted to collectively appear before the speaker National Assembly for verification of their resignations, but the National Assembly Secretariat had announced a clear policy regarding the confirmation of resignations of the PTI members, according to which, every party MNA had to personally confirm his resignation.

Reporter Usman Khan