44 PTI lawmakers to withdraw resignation from Pakistan's National Assembly

Taking to his Twitter handle, Umar stated. "As the Speaker is not yet accepting the resignations of all the members of the Assembly, as per the instructions of the party chairman, 44 members of the Assembly have emailed the decision to withdraw their resignations to the Speaker of the National Assembly. The next step will be the nomination of the opposition leader."

After the announcement of Asad Umar, the PTI lawmakers filed a request before the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), informing the electoral watchdog about their decision to withdraw the National Assembly resignations, The Express Tribune reported. The PTI lawmakers further stated that they have informed the National Assembly Speaker and Secretariat regarding the decision.

The PTI lawmakers have stressed that they should not be denotified if the speaker accepts their resignation, as per The Express Tribune report. Notably, the ECP has already denotified several PTI members of the National Assembly after their resignations were accepted by the National Assembly Speaker. Pakistan National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf has accepted the resignation of 80 PTI MNAs with 50 still remaining pending.

On January 20, Pakistan National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf accepted the resignations of 35 more Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf lawmakers after which the ECP denotified them, bringing the total to 80, as per the news report. 43 PTI lawmakers still awaited his decision regarding his resignation.

On January 17, Pakistan Assembly Speaker accepted the resignations of 34 PTI lawmakers, Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rashid and they were also de-notified, as per the news report. Notably, the PTI lawmakers had resigned en masse from the lower house of the parliament after the PTI Chairman Imran Khan was ousted from power through a no-confidence motion in April 2022. (ANI)