The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday set aside the National Assembly speaker’s acceptance of the resignations of 72 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers from Punjab, as well as their de-notification by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), and directed them to appear before the speaker to withdraw their original resignations.
In his ruling on petitions filed by PTI leaders Shafqat Mahmood and Riaz Ahmad Fatyana, Justice Shahid Karim further directed Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to decide the matter of the resignations after personally meeting each lawmaker. The lawmakers were among the 123 MNAs who resigned en masse from the National Assembly after PTI chief Imran Khan lost a vote of no-confidence in a bid to “pressure” the incumbent government into proceeding toward early general elections.
During proceedings, PTI lawyer Ali Zafar said the MNAs had resigned on party directions solely to force the government toward elections. He claimed the petitioners had subsequently withdrawn their resignations on television and informed the speaker of this decision in writing. He further argued that the speaker could not accept any MNA’s resignation without personally verifying it to ensure it was voluntary and not under duress, adding that the speaker had assured a delegation of PTI lawmakers that their resignations would be individually verified before backtracking. After the ruling, he told media the MNAs could now go back to the National Assembly and perform their constitutional duties.
However, PTI chief Imran Khan—in a press conference—claimed that while the MNAs could return to Parliament, he would not do so, as it had “lost all relevance.”
The issue of the PTI’s resignations saw a lot of flip-flopping from the party in the year since they were submitted. Initially, the PTI maintained that all resignations must be accepted and the party’s lawmakers refused to appear before the speaker to either verify or deny them. The lawmakers even approached courts to demand the speaker be directed to accept the resignations without any scrutiny. However, as it became clear early elections were not in the offing, the party flipped its position and started demanding the withdrawal of all resignations.
Key to this ‘U-turn’ was the belated realization that the opposition leader plays a key role in appointing people to constitutional positions such as the National Accountability Bureau chairman and the chief election commissioner, as well as the interim government that is tasked with conducting elections.
However, amidst this back-and-forth, the NA speaker accepted the resignations of over 120 PTI lawmakers in phases, prompting them to approach the Supreme Court as well as all four high courts to demand they be withdrawn. Earlier this year, the LHC suspended the ECP’s de-notification of 73 PTI lawmakers from Punjab. The IHC, similarly, suspended the de-notification of three PTI lawmakers, while the BHC suspended the de-notification of one MNA. The PHC and SHC issued similar orders on behalf of the PTI.