ISLAMABAD: In a surprise move, National Assembly Deputy Speaker Zahid Durrani on Thursday put off the National Assembly (NA) session for an indefinite period due to “lack of quorum,” ARY News reported.
The NA session, which was supposed to continue till Friday, has been postponed by NA deputy speaker for an indefinite period.
“The National Assembly session has been prorogued,” the NA secretariat tweeted.
The National Assembly session has been prorogued.@PTVNewsOfficial @appcsocialmedia @RadioPakistan @demp_gov
— National Assembly of 🇵🇰 (@NAofPakistan) February 9, 2023
The move came after 43 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers, who were restored following the LHC ruling, had decided to attend today’s NA session.
Read more: PTI MNAs likely to attend today’s NA session
However, the assembly secretariat said that PTI MNAs would not be allowed to attend today’s proceedings as they have yet not received the written copy of the LHC order.
LHC order
The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday suspended the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) order de-notifying 43 PTI MNAs and restrained the by-polls in those constituencies.
The LHC issued directives on a plea filed by Riaz Fatyana, Nasarullah 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 Asharaf and the order of the Election Commission of Pakistan.
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