The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has suspended the notification that declared the seat of NA-246 of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) member national assembly (MNA) Shakoor Shad as vacant.
Shakoor Shad had challenged the acceptance of his resignation letter in a petition filed in the IHC. IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah heard the case of the PTI leader.
Shad had claimed in his petition that he had not resigned but the resignation letter was written by a computer operator at PTI head office and was signed by the 123 MNAs.
Shad also had maintained in his petition that letter neither had any date or name on it nor it had addressed the speaker of the National Assembly. The petition also said that PTI had taken resignations for solidarity with Chairman Imran Khan and were for political purposes.
The reference of the 2015 judgment of Athar Minallah was also mentioned in the petition that had stated that resignation must be voluntary, made of free will and for vacating the seat.
Upon the court’s inquiry about whether Shad was called for confirmation of his resignation by the speaker of the National Assembly, the lawyer told that he had received a notification but did not appear. The court noted that despite this, the resignation was accepted.
The IHC, suspending the notification of the MNA’s resignation, directed him to join the National Assembly meeting and proceedings.
The court, seeking response of National Assembly’s speaker and secretariat, issued them notices along with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), directing a response within two weeks.
