Resignations of PTI MNAs de-sealed; NA speaker to call members to chamber

• PML-Q nominates Hussain Elahi as Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly.
  
• "I will call every resigning member to my chamber individually," NA speaker says.
• Raja Pervez Ashraf adds the process will start soon.

ISLAMABAD: The resignations of PTI members have been de-sealed and their fate would be decided strictly according to the Constitution, law and rules, said Speaker of National Assembly Raja Pervez Ashraf, The News reported.

The PTI lawmakers had tendered their resignations en masse after the Imran Khan government was ousted through a no-confidence motion earlier this month. Later, the then Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri accepted the resignations and issued a notification in this regard.

Speaking to journalists after visiting the ‘Monument of Democracy’ in the Parliament House on Friday, Raja Pervez Ashraf said: “I will call every resigning member to my chamber individually to consider the fate of his/her resignation, and the process will start soon.”

The speaker further added that those who did not want to resign would be given due consideration. “I am convinced that no decision should be taken beyond rules and the Constitution,” he said.

Ashraf said democracy was the only solution to all issues faced by the common people.

He said any member could cross the floor on two counts: violation of the party head's decision on voting for the prime minister and the Finance Bill. 

The NA speaker said the party head would write to the speaker if any of his party members crossed the floor in violation of the party lines.

PML-Q's Hussain Elahi nominated as Opposition leader 

On Friday, the PML-Q nominated Hussain Elahi as the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly.

According to the NA Secretariat, the nomination for Hussain Elahi as the Opposition leader had been signed by Moonis Elahi, Hussain Elahi and Farakh Khan.

Chaudhry Salik Hussain, son of former prime minister and president PML-Q Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, took oath as a federal minister on Friday, while Secretary General PML-Q Chaudhry Tariq Basheer Cheema had already taken oath in the federal cabinet of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in the first phase.