Former PTI MNAs move SHC for early hearing on resignations

KARACHI: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) former members National Assembly (MNAs) from Karachi on Thursday once again approached Sindh High Court (SHC) for an immediate hearing on a plea against the NA speaker accepting their resignations and the holding of by-elections on the vacant seats, ARY News reported.

The counsel for PTI said that Aftab Siddiqui, Saifur Rehman Khan, Faheem Khan, Attaullah Khan, Aftab Jahangir, Najeeb Haroon and others have approached the SHC.

At the outset of the hearing, the PTI counsel urged the court to hear the case on an urgent basis as by-elections are scheduled for March 16.

“The by-elections are scheduled for March 16 but SHC has fixed March 21 as the date for hearing a case regarding NA resignations,” he told court and requested for an early hearing of the case.

At this, the SHC issued notice to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and fixed March 7 as the date for hearing PTI MNAs’ resignation plea.

The petition

In the petition, they maintained that after the LHC verdict, the speaker could not issue any notification regarding acceptance of the resignations.

The petitioners further prayed court to suspend the ECP notifications as case is already pending in Lahore High Court (LHC).

A total of 123 PTI MNAs had resigned en masse on April 11 last year after the success of a no-confidence motion against their party chairman and then prime minister Imran Khan.

The nine constituencies where by-polls are scheduled include: NA-241 Korangi Karachi-III; NA-242 Karachi East-I; NA-243 Karachi East-II; NA-244 Karachi East-III; NA-247 Karachi South-II; NA-250 Karachi West-III; NA-252 Karachi West-V; NA-254 Karachi Central-II; and NA-256 Karachi Central-IV.