ISLAMABAD: As many as 72 former members of the National Assembly belonging to the PTI, who tendered their resignations in April last year and whose seats were declared vacant by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) after the acceptance of their resignations by National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, are unlikely to be allowed to enter the House. A single bench of the LHC set aside the notification issued by the NA speaker regarding the acceptance of PTI MNAs’ resignations. Parliamentary sources told ‘The News’ on Friday that the court’s verdict didn’t reach the speaker till late Friday evening, adding that once the judgment reaches the National Assembly Secretariat, the matter would be put before the speaker for consideration. The former PTI MNAs have announced to approach the speaker on Monday morning for urging him to return their resignations in the light of the LHC’s decision.
The sources said that the speaker would seek the advice from legal team of the NA, Law Division of the federal government and attorney general of Pakistan for their expert opinion in the matter before taking any decision.
The sources further said that all the members, who approached the court, have lost their membership on account of their absence from the House for more than 40 consecutive days. The Constitution empowers the speaker to declare vacant the seat of a member who remains absent from the House for 40 or more days without obtaining leave of the House in a row. The Article 64 of the Constitution reads: “Vacation of seats 64. (1) A member of [Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament)] may, by writing under his hand addressed to the speaker or, as the case may be, the chairman, resign from his seat, and thereupon his seat shall become vacant. (2) The House may declare the seat of a member vacant if, without leave of the House, he remains absent for 40 consecutive days of its sittings.”
The sources said that the PTI’s former members of NA would approach the speaker on Monday but they will have to seek appointment for the purpose before visiting him in the Parliament House.
The sources added they wouldn’t be permitted to enter the House as they would be treated as ‘strangers’ for the national legislature. In the meanwhile, PML-Q’s two members Moonis Elahi and Rasikh Elahi, who remained absent from the House for more than 40 days and Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf informed the House about their absence also last week, would be shown the door as the process for the vacation of their seats had been initiated.
The speaker has issued notice to them for vacation of their seats. Interestingly, Moonis Elahi, who is in self-exile and living in Europe, has posted his application for leave to the speaker early this week. The speaker will take decision on it after examining details, the sources added.
In another interesting development, the resignation of the sitting member of the PTI Mahmood Moulvi from Karachi has been received by the speaker’s secretariat. No by-election would be possible on this seat since the polls are not permitted by the Constitution for any vacant seat when the mandated period of the House is less than 120 days, the sources added.