ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday dismissed the references filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) seeking disqualification of its dissident Members of the National Assembly (MNAs).

In its short verdict, the ECP unanimously held that the declaration filed against the MNAs under Article 63(A) was not found in accordance with the Constitution of Pakistan. The references were heard by a three-member bench of the ECP headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja.

Former Prime Minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan had sent a declaration to the National Assembly’s former Speaker Asad Qaiser seeking the disqualification of 20 party members after they decided to vote against him in the no-confidence motion.

But the votes of the dissident MNAs were not needed to oust Imran Khan from power as the then-Opposition had enough votes to send the government packing in the wee hours of April 10. However, the then Acting Speaker of the National Assembly Qasim Suri had sent the references against the dissident members on April 14.

In today’s short verdict, the election commission unanimously said the declaration filed against the MNAs under Article 63(A) was not found in accordance with the Constitution of Pakistan.

The references were filed against MNAs including Noor Alam Khan, Dr Muhammad Afzal Khan Dhandla, Nawab Sher Waseer, Raja Riaz Ahmad, Ahmed Hussain Deharr, Rana Muhammad Qasim Noon, Asim Nazeer, Amjad Farooq Khosa, Aamir Liaquat Hussain, Chaudhry Farrukh Altaf, Syed Mobeen Ahmed, Sayed Sami-ul-Hassan Gillani, Muhammad Abdul Ghaffar Wattoo, Sayed Basit Ahmad Sultan, Aamir Talal Gopang, Sardar Riaz Mehmood Khan Mazari, Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, Wajiha Qamar, Nuzhat Pathan and Javeria Zafar.