National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf on Friday accepted the resignations of 35 more Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNAs amid reports that President Arif Alvi is all set to ask Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to take a vote of confidence from the lower house of the parliament.
A total of 69 resignations were accepted this week after the PTI announced to return to the assembly and threatened to move a no-trust motion against the prime minister.
قومی اسمبلی اسپیکر راجہ پرویز اشرف نے قواعد و ضوابط کے مطابق پی ٹی آئی کے مزید 35 ارکان اسمبلی کے استعفے منظور کر لئے_ pic.twitter.com/QokSWmn9hk
— National Assembly of ?? (@NAofPakistan) January 20, 2023
“In accordance with clause (1) of Article 64 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, read with Rule 43 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly of Pakistan 2007, the Hon’ble Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan has been pleased to accept the resignations of the following Members of the National Assembly with effect from April 11, 2022, the date when the letter of respective resignations was submitted,” the statement released by the National Assembly Secretariat read.
Following the approval of the resignations, the summary was sent to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to de-notify the PTI lawmakers.
Now, after the acceptance of 80 resignations since July, the strength of PTI MNAs in the assembly has shrunk to 73 including the dissidents.
Around 131 MNAs belonging to the PTI tendered their resignations en masse after Imran Khan's government was ousted through a no-confidence motion in April last year.
NA speaker on July 28, 2022 accepted the resignations of only 11 PTI lawmakers while he accepted 34 more resignations on January 17.
