In major blow to PTI, ECP denotifies 43 MNAs.

ISLAMABAD -- The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Wednesday denotified 43 lawmakers of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the last batch of the MNAs who resigned en masse.

The development came after National Assembly (NA) Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf on Tuesday approved the resignations of the PTI MNAs in the lower house despite their request for withdrawal of the resignations, raising the total to 123.

According to media sources, the NA speaker approved the resignations on 'January 22 and forwarded them to the electoral body the same day' for further processing.

The news came after the party announced that its MPs were withdrawing their resignations and returning to the assembly in a bid to claim the posts of the leader of the opposition and chairman of the Public Accounts Committee - a powerful NA body that keeps a check on government spending.

Last week, the Election Commission denotified 80 members of the PTI and Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Chief of the Awami Muslim League and Imran Khan's ally.

With the acceptance of 123 resignations, only dissident PTI lawmakers remain in the National Assembly.

Though PTI Chairman Imran Khan was disqualified from his seat in the Mianwali constituency, he had won from six constituencies in the by-elections for 11 National Assembly vacant seats.

He has not taken yet an oath for any of the winning seats while another PTI candidate Maulvi Mehmood, who won the election from the seat that fell vacant due to the death of Dr Aamir Liaquat Hussain from Karachi, is also yet to take the oath.

On Monday, the PTI approached the ECP that it had withdrawn the resignations and that the commission should not denotify its members.

According to...

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