Lahore: Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday suspended the Election Commission of Pakistan’s notification that de-notified 43 MNAs of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). LHC judge Justice Shahid Karim heard the case and restricted the commission from holding by-elections in the 43 constituencies until further orders. The court also issued notices to the federal government, NA Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The LHC issued directives on a plea filed by Riaz Fatyana, Nasrullah Khan, and other PTI leaders challenging the acceptance of their resignations as MNAs by Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf. In the petition, the PTI leaders accused the NA speaker of accepting resignations to ‘politically victimize’ the opponents. They pleaded with the court to nullify the decision of speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and the order of the Election Commission of Pakistan.

On Jan 25, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) de-notified 43 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) members of the National Assembly (MNAs) following the acceptance of their resignations by NA Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf. After the announcement of PTI MNAs’ return to the National Assembly, the federal government made a move to accept their resignations in an apparent bid to reduce the number of opposition lawmakers.

The de-notified PTI MNAs included Riaz Fatyana, Sardar Tariq Hussain, Mohammad Yaqoob Sheikh, Murtaza Iqbal, Sardar Mohammad Khan Leghari, Zile Humma, Rukhsana Naveed, Ghazala Saifi, Nousheen Hamid, Sobia Kamal Khan and others. Ashraf had already accepted resignations of 70 PTI members last month in two phases. It is pertinent to mention here that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf had announced resignations from the National Assembly on April 11 last year, minutes before the election of Shehbaz Sharif as the new prime minister.