Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: A miscalculation made by seasoned politician Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed regarding the five-year term of the National Assembly has left him in an embarrassing and difficult situation in the wake of his announcement to resign from the assembly during a joint opposition rally in Lahore, Daily Times has learnt.

According to the Section 4 of Article 224 of the Constitution of Pakistan 1973, the by-elections are not held on any vacant seat, if such vacancy accrued one hundred and twenty (120) days before completion of the term of assembly.

Reliable sources confirmed this scribe that Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed announced his resignation on 17 January 2018 in a public gathering at Lahore under a miscalculation. He calculated the days left behind in dissolution of assembly while counting them from 11th May 2013.

According to his scheme, he will not have to contest a by-election as there were only one hundred and fourteen (114) days left in dissolution of assembly.

However, he miscalculated the term of National Assembly as according to the Article 52 of the Constitution of Pakistan the National Assembly shall continue for a term of five years from the day of its first meeting not the day of general election.

In fact, the first session of the 14th National Assembly was held on 1st June, 2013 and it is going to be dissolved on 1st June 2018.

Now, If Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed will own his words about resignation then he will have to contest a by-election because according to the constitution one hundred and thirty three (133) days were left behind in dissolution of assembly on 17th January 2018. “He not only announced his resignation at the public gathering, but also waved his written resignation letter in the air. Now, if he will submit a fresh resignation letter with latest date then he will face criticism and otherwise it is most likely that he will have to contest a by-election if he will submit the old one”, an officer of National Assembly secretariat explained.

On the other side, a close aide of Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed on the condition of anonymity told this scribe that he is delaying submission of resignation to avoid by-election. He will submit his resignation after two weeks.

When contacted by the Daily Times, the Director Public Relations National Assembly Mohsin Iqbal confirmed that the resignation of Sheikh Rahseed Ahmed had not reached the speaker’s office so far.

“Speaker National Assembly cannot take a decision on any announcement made by legislators outside the parliament and he will decide about the resignation of Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed once he will formally submit his resignation”, he maintained. Sheikh Rasheed was tried to be contacted several times for his comments but he was unavailable despite repeated attempts.

Published in Daily Times, January 23^rd 2018.