Lahore High Court also orders to stop by-elections on 43 constituencies until further notice
In a major blow to the coalition government, the Lahore High Court on Wednesday suspended the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) order de-notifying 43 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers.
Last month, the ECP denotified the last batch of 43 lawmakers who resigned en masse after their resignations were accepted by National Assembly (NA) Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf despite their request for withdrawal of the resignations.
The high court also stayed the by-elections on the 43 constituencies of the de-notified MNAs till further notice. It also issued a notice to the Election Commission and other parties, seeking their replies.
The order was passed by Justice Shahid Karim during the hearing of a plea filed by Riaz Fatyana and other lawmakers against the approval of their resignations by the National Assembly speaker.
During the hearing, Barrister Ali Zafar said that legal requirements were not fulfilled while accepting the resignations.
Justice Karim inquired about which legal requirements were unmet.
At this, Barrister Zafar said that the speaker did not inquire in line with the Constitution before accepting the resignations. “The MNAs did not appear before the speaker for the acceptance of their resignations,” he added.
He said that the speaker cannot approve the resignations without hearing the lawmakers.
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