The court also suspended the National Assembly Speaker's notification resulting in the acceptance of resignations of the former ruling party’s members.
The LHC, on the occasion, issued notices to the sides concerned and sought their responses into the case.
On Feb 8, the court suspended the order of the ECP to de-notify 43 PTI lawmakers, while also temporarily postponing the by-elections in the said constituencies until further notice.
The verdict came after a plea was filed by PTI lawmaker Riaz Fatyana and others challenging the Speaker’s approval of their resignations. The commission had acted after receiving the resignation letters.
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Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf had approved the resignations last month after former prime minister Imran Khan indicated the party’s return to the parliament and appointment of one of its members as the opposition leader in the National Assembly.
The PTI lawmakers had resigned en masse from the lower house of the Parliament following Imran's ouster from power in April last year.
Ashraf told a PTI delegation on Dec 29, 2022 that the party’s lawmakers would be summoned individually for verification of their resignations as the latter insisted on them being accepted in one go.
But after stalling the process for eight months, the Speaker accepted the resignations of 34 PTI MNAs on Jan 17 and 35 MNAs on Jan 20, including Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid, as the party hinted it would “test” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif with a confidence vote.
On Jan 24, 43 PTI MNAs wrote to the NA Speaker for withdrawal their resignations, but they had already accepted by then. Subsequently, on Jan 25, the ECP de-notified 43 more PTI lawmakers, taking the total number to 123.