ISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court on Friday suspended a notification declaring the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) NA-246 seat from Karachi’s Liyari vacant.

The ECP declared the seat vacant after National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf accepted resignations of 11 PTI MNAs.

Chief Justice Athar Minallah presided over the hearing of the petition filed by PTI MNA Abdul Shakoor Shad challenging the notification accepting his resignation.

The petitioner contended in his plea that neither he sent the resignation to the speaker National Assembly nor wrote his name and date on it, adding that the resignations of 123 PTI MNAs were written by the computer operator of the party head office. However, the members signed the document to maintain the party discipline.

During today’s hearing, the court inquired whether Shad had been called by the speaker of the National Assembly, to which Shad’s counsel replied that he had received a notice but had not appeared. The court remarked that despite this, the NA speaker had accepted the resignation.

The IHC then suspended the notification accepting the resignation of the PTI MNA and directed Shad to join the proceedings of the National Assembly and issued notices to the speaker and National Assembly secretariat for their response on the matter.