ISLAMABAD: Chairman Senate Nayyar Bokhari on Monday accepted the formal resignation of Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) Senator Syed Mustafa Kamal, who was asked by his party to quit the seat in the upper house of Parliament last year, DawnNews reported.

The official resignation letter was submitted in the Senate secretariat by the MQM today which was accepted duly by the chairman Senate.

Sources told DawnNews that Nayyar Bokhari confirmed Kamal’s decision over telephone. The MQM leader cited personal reasons for the decision.

His unexplained absence from the country and the MQM headquarters in Karachi had prompted his party to ask him to quit his Senate seat last year.

The former Karachi nazim, who got elected to the upper house of parliament in 2011, left the country in mid-August last year.

Barrister Saif and Wasim Akhtar have emerged as strong candidates to get MQM's ticket for Kamal's seat in the Senate.

On the other hand, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Faisal Raza Abidi’s resignation for his Senate seat has been received at the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The commission will issue poll schedule for the vacated seat in the next couple of days.

The PPP leadership had demanded the firebrand senator to resign from the seat last week.