PTI MNAs resignations: NA Secretariat decides to challenge LHC verdict

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly (NA) Secretariat has decided to file an intra-court appeal against the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) verdict in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) resignation case, ARY News reported on Tuesday.

Sources told ARY News that the NA Secretariat received the LHC’s verdict today. The secretariat decided to file an intra-court appeal against the high court’s verdict.

Sources said that the LHC allegedly gave two contradictory verdicts regarding the PTI MNAs’ resignations. In a short verdict, the National Assembly was ordered to conduct the interviews of the lawmakers again.

READ: NA speaker says ‘PTI MNAs resignations cannot be reviewed’

Later, the NA Speaker’s decision was rejected after the approval of the PTI MNAs resignations in the detailed verdict. The secretariat started preparations to challenge the verdict, sources said.

In May, the Lahore High Court (LHC) had overturned the resignations of 70 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MNAs.

The PTI MNAs, including Fawad Chaudhry, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Pervaiz Khattak and others challenged the acceptance of their resignations as MNAs by the NA speaker.

Justice Shahid Karim while announcing the verdict on the pleas of the PTI lawmakers, nullified the notifications of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf regarding the acceptance of the resignations.

READ: Justice Athar Minallah says PTI MNAs’ resignations escalated political crisis

While directing Fawad Chaudhry, Hammad Azhar, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Shafqat Mahmood, Riaz Fatiyani and others to appear before the NA speaker to take back their resignations as MNA, the LHC has asked Speaker Ashraf to make a decision after listening to the PTI members.

In the petitions, the lawmakers maintained that the speaker did not listen to their viewpoints before accepting their resignations.