• Qureshi said the decision shows ‘double standards’ to achieve desired results
• He said the decision has been taken to benefit Shehbaz Sharif
• He said NA Speaker should accept the remaining resignations

PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi slammed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the government for the double standards in accepting the resignations of party lawmakers.

The ECP de-notified 35 PTI MNAs after Speaker National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf accepted their resignations.  The move took the PTI by surprise as it was considering returning to the assembly in an attempt to foil a trust vote by the prime minister.

Speaking to Bol News, Qureshi said the decision leaves no doubt about the “double standards” and was taken to achieve desired results for the government.

He said NA Speaker has maintained that he will not accept the resignations until they have been verified individually from each lawmaker. He added even the Supreme Court was advising them to return to parliament and play their parliamentary role.

He said the party had decided to remove the so-called Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly, who he said was working as a ‘pocket union’, when the decision was made.

“Double standards for accepting resignations are not acceptable. They are willing to do anything to achieve their goals,” headed.

He said the resignations of the remaining 125 MNAs should also be accepted by the speaker rather than ‘selective’ resignations.  He said chairman Imran Khan will hold consultations on their next course of action.

Regarding the return to National Assembly, he said the decision will be made after consultations. He said selective resignations were done before and Imran Khan won the by-polls. He said Imran Khan might create history and contest all 35 seats.

“Whose has given them the right to pick and choose? This is ill-conceived and a mockery of the regulations.”  He said “political engineering” was being done to get the desired results.

He said the party discussed legal and constitutional ways to remove the dissident MNAs and leader of opposition. “This show the decision are hand in golf and aimed to achieve desired results,” he added.

He said it was already decided to dissolve the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly after the Punjab Assembly.

He said the government said the PTI would not be able to complete required 186 members in Punjab but they were successful and dissolved the assembly.

He claimed that many PDM members are contacting Imran Khan and attempting to become part of the PTI.

He said they will write to Speaker NA to accept all remaining resignations.  “All 125 resignations should be accepted instead of selection,” he said.

“The prime ministership is in jeopardy. This action has been taken to save Shehbaz Sharif,” he added.

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