NA Speaker decides to move Election Commission over PTI resignations
He said he is left with only one option which is to notify the Election Commission.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – The Speaker of National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq on Wednesday decided to refer the matter of resignations of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to the Election Commission of Pakistan. He said that he is bound to verify the resignations, adding that he is yet to verify if the resignations were handed out of pressure or not, Dunya News reported.
Addressing the media outside the National Assembly, Ayaz Sadiq said that the resignations are accepted as per a set law and criteria. He said it is his duty as the Speaker to verify if the resignations are real and whether those resignations are tendered under any pressure.
The speaker said that he tried very hard to resolve the issue of resignations in a dignified way. He said that PTI vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi had written to him saying that PTI members will appear as a group, upon which, they were told that they can come as a group but the resignations will be accepted individually.
He said he is left with only one option which is to notify the Election Commission. Ayaz Sadiq said he will alert the Election Commission through a letter.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission officials have said that they have nothing to do with the resignations, adding that it is Speaker’s job to accept or reject the resignations.
ECP maintains that the Speaker of National Assembly is authorized to accept or reject the resignations and that Election Commission is only concerned with holding elections on vacated seats.
