24 members of the Sindh assembly are required to elect one senator. Given the composition of the provincial legislature, all eleven Senate seat will be shared by the PPP and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in proportion to their respective strengths.
Not only the PML-N but all the parliamentary players barring Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam sincerely want to keep the PTI in the parliamentary loop and had repeatedly urged Speaker Ayaz Sadiq to turn down the resignations, which he had done.
It is no secret that a predominant majority of the PTI federal and provincial lawmakers never willing to quit the assemblies and had just bowed before Imran Khan’s decision reluctantly, handing over their resignations. But still they had kept resisting their acceptance off. Had they been serious in getting out of the assemblies, they would have felt no hesitation in individually appearing before the speaker for quick acceptance of their resignations.
Since the time to say goodbye to the assemblies passed after the PTI abandoned its street agitation in the wake of the Peshawar tragedy, it is not interested in pushing its lawmakers out of the assemblies, but the Sindh speaker has deprived it of four seats.
Even at the height of its ominous protest which had rattled the Nawaz Sharif government, the PTI had taken every step to retain its seats in the assemblies. When its threat greatly subsided and its agitation whittled down, it was in no mood to leave the parliamentary seats. It will seriously think of resigning whenever its new protest will gather strength.
The PTI has the requisite numerical power only in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly to win a few Senate seats. There, its lawmakers have not quit mainly because of the firm opposition of Chief Minister Pervez Khattak. Whether it boycotts the Senate election from the national and Punjab assemblies or takes part in it, it will be inconsequential as it is in no position to get even a single seat.