ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan on Friday disqualified as many as 25 Punjab MPAs for violating Article 63-A of the constitution.

The provincial legislators were disqualified for changing their loyalties by voting against the party line. The PTI MPAs voted for Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Hamza Shehbaz Sharif for Punjab Chief Ministership. The ECP has also suspended the Punjab Assembly’s membership of the dissident MPAs.

The decision announced today was reserved on May 17.

Punjab Assembly Speaker Pervaiz Elahi, earlier, sent the reference to the ECP for lifetime disqualification of 26 MPAs of PTI. These members deviated from the party line and voted in favour of Hamza Shehbaz Sharif of PML-N in the election of the chief minister of Punjab.

Read more: Pervaiz Elahi sends reference against 26 PTI MPAs to ECP

Aleem Khan and Jahangir Tareen groups of PTI had announced their support for Hamza Shehbaz instead of PTI-backed candidate Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi. A PTI leader handed over the reference to the speaker on behalf of PTI Chairman and ex-prime minister Imran Khan.

In the reference, Punjab Assembly Speaker Pervaiz Elahi has sought lifetime disqualification of PTI MPAs for violating party discipline.

The names of the PTI dissenters against which the reference has been sent are: Abdul Aleem Khan, Ghulam Rasool Saeed, Saeed Akbar, Faisal Hayat, Raja Sageer, Mehar Aslam, Khalid Mehmood, Nazeer Chohan, Nauman Langrial, Ameen Zulkurnain, Muhammad Salman, Sajida Yusuf, Muhammad Tahir, Uzma Kardar, Zawar Hussian, Nazeer Ahmed, Fida Hussain, Ayesha Nawaz, Sibtain Raza and others.