The PTI had resigned en masse from the lower house of parliament following the ouster of PTI Chairman Imran Khan in April last year. Subsequently, the NA speaker had accepted only 11 of the resignations, stating that the remaining lawmakers would be summoned individually for verification.
In an apparent bid to scuttle PTI’s purported plan to bring a confidence motion against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Ashraf on Tuesday accepted the resignations of 34 PTI lawmakers alongside Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid, resulting in their de-notification by the electoral watchdog.
The move came as a surprise for the PTI as well as political experts as two weeks earlier, the speaker had stated that the resignations would only be accepted once the lawmakers appeared in person for verification.
