ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Wednesday suspended the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) order to denotify three Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers elected from the capital — Asad Umar, Ali Nawaz Awan and Raja Khurram Shahzad Nawaz.
More than 120 MPs loyal to Imran Khan had resigned en masse following his ouster as prime minister in 2022.
National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf had accepted their resignations and notified the electoral body accordingly. However, the three PTI leaders challenged the notification in court, with lawyer Ali Zafar representing them.
During the hearing, IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq suspended the ECP’s ability to hold by-elections in Islamabad and also suspended Speaker Ashraf’s notification accepting the PTI lawmakers’ resignations.
The court also issued notices to all parties involved and requested their responses.
The court further questioned the PTI’s lawyer on the issue, asking if the notifications had been challenged, to which Zafar responded that his clients want to be reinstated in the assembly.
