Islamabad: As many as 123 Members of the National Assembly of Pakistan, belonging to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of the Former Prime Minister, Imran Khan resigned. Their resignation was accepted by Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri on Thursday.

The decision has come after Imran Khan lost the post of Prime Minister after a confidence motion in the assembly where the opposition showed unity to oust Khan. After his unceremonious exit, his party members decided to resign.

It may be noted that after his removal, Imran had reportedly asked his party’s elected members to resign. Appreciating the MNAs for tendering resignation, Imran in a Twitter post said, "Want to appreciate our 123 MNAs as their resignations have been accepted by Speaker Qasim Suri. Their standing firm for a sovereign Pak & against US-initiated regime change bringing to power criminals, convicted and on bail, the ultimate insult to any self-respecting indep[endent] nation." 

During the run-up to the no-confidence motion, Imran had consistently alleged a 'foreign conspiracy,' involving US, to derail him from the Prime Minister's post. In all, PTI has 155 members in the 272-member House. Of them, 20 are dissidents, who have been served notices by the party. The decision of the remaining 12 lawmakers remains unclear. 

Meanwhile, the election for the vacant seat of Pakistan National Assembly Speaker will be held on April 22 during the NA session. The Speaker's seat has remained vacant, following the resignation of former speaker Asad Qaiser on April 9, who announced to quit, while refusing to conduct voting on the no-confidence resolution against Imran Khan last Saturday.

 The joint candidate of the allied government is likely to be elected unopposed as resignations of the members of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have been accepted already. As per the report, the leadership of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which has been offered the slot of the Speaker, will consider nominating Raja Parvaiz Ashraf or Syed Naveed Qamar for the post.