WEB DESK
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has suspended an Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) notification for the by-election in the National Assembly constituency of NA-246 in Karachi after the incumbent PTI MNA Shakor Shad claimed he had not resigned from the seat.
Abdul Shakoor Shad announced to rescind his resignation, which he said was only meant to express solidarity with PTI Chief Imran Khan in a petition filed before the IHC.
Shad filed a petition on Thursday explaining that he did not sign any resignation letter, nor sent the resignation to the speaker. The resignation was not addressed to anyone, he said.
The petition stated that 123 resignations were typed by a computer operator and the PTI MNAs were made to sign them in the name of ‘party discipline , to show solidarity with Imran Khan and for political purposes.
IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah heard the petition on Friday and sent notices to ECP and the National Assembly Secretariat seeking their replies.
Justice Minallah said that after Shad’s petition ‘all of PTI’s resignations’ had become doubtful.
Wasn’t Shad called for the confirmation of the resignation? the justice asked
Shad’s counsel replied that the PTI MNA was invited by the NA speaker for the confirmation of his resignation on May 30 but he failed to make an appearance due to being ill.
However, Abdul Shakoor Shad continued to attend meetings of the standing committees, the lawyer said.
The court suspended the ECP notification that denotified Shad as MNA and told the petitioner to attend National Assembly proceedings.
