The National Assembly (NA) speaker’s office claimed on Friday that Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf’s was “proved correct” with regard to PTI lawmakers’ resignations after the Lahore High Court issued a detailed verdict on the matter.

The electoral watchdog had de-notified 124 MNAs (including PTI and AML), following the acceptance of resignations by the NA speaker. However, the acceptance of the latter 43 MNAs was challenged in the LHC.

PTI’s Riaz Fatyana and 42 other MNAs petitioned the LHC against the NA speaker’s acceptance of their resignations and the ECP’s de-notification orders. On Wednesday, media reports said the LHC suspended Ashraf’s acceptance of the resignations of 43 PTI lawmakers and put by-elections in these constituencies on hold.

However, the detailed LHC verdict released today, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, stated that “the notification of the NA speaker on January 22 has not been attached (though challenged) and thus no interim relief can be considered to that extent.”

It added that the notification of the “Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) remained suspended and the election schedule for the seats shall not be announced by the ECP”.

“The process of by-elections to these shall remain suspended,” the verdict read.

The statement released by the speaker’s office today said Ashraf’s stance was “proved right”, adding that “all matters were decided by looking at the constitutional and legal aspects”.

It further said the NA speaker not only considered the issue of resignations with great restraint but PTI members were also repeatedly summoned.

“Despite repeated summons, PTI members did not come and kept demanding acceptance of resignations,” the statement added. “Objections were raised after the NA speaker accepted the resignations, which was unconstitutional.”

Dawn.com has reached out to Ashraf for a comment.

On February 9, the PTI lawmakers’ bid to return to the NA was thwarted when the deputy speaker abruptly prorogued the session.

Some of the reinstated lawmakers arrived to attend the session but were not allowed to enter the NA hall.

On the same day, Ashraf said that the NA Secretariat had not yet received the LHC order — in which the acceptance of the resignations of 43 PTI lawmakers was suspended — as the de-notified MNAs arrived at the Parliament House.

The PTI had resigned en masse from the NA last year in April. After Ashraf stalled the process for months, he began accepting their resignations in a phased manner from July onwards.