Ijaz Kakakhel Islamabad
Deputy Speaker of National Assembly Qasim Suri on Thursday accepted the resignations of 123 PTI MNAs after they decided to disassociate themselves from the National Assembly following the ouster of PTI Chairman Imran Khan from the office of the prime minister.
These PTI’s legislators had tendered their resignations before the election of the new Leader of the House. Qasim Suri tweeted that he had followed the rules while accepting the resignations he received. However, reports indicate that resignations signed by the PTI MNAs were not given in hand writing as required under the assembly rules.
He said that he had received resignations of 125 MNAs. Since two members had not submitted their resignations in person, they were not accepted, he added. PTI has 155 seats in the assembly, but at least 20 of its MNAs have defected. National Assembly Secretariat has also issued a notification in this regard.
Former prime minister and PTI chairman Imran Khan appreciated the MNAs for their resignations. PTI had resigned en masse on Sunday just before the election of the new leader of the house. “The resignations of the members have been approved as per the rules,” Suri said.
PTI leader Farrukh Habib on his twitter handle stated that the Acting Speaker has approved resignations of 123 members according to the rules. The National Assembly secretariat has issued a notification to this effect, he added. “After approval of resignations of 123 members of the house, now general elections have become inevitable,” Habib added.
Meanwhile, the National Assembly Secretariat had refused to accept the resignations of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf members. According to sources, the Secretariat has taken a stand that no member’s resignation could be sent to the Election Commission without individual confirmation, while the Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri wants to accept all resignations by April 22.
