LAHORE, Feb 18: PPP’s parliamentary and deputy parliamentary leaders on Monday issued show-cause notices to party’s nine MPAs over joining the PML-N.

“Today, we have issued show-cause notices to PPP’s nine legislators for defecting to the PML-N. These MPAs have violated Constitution’s articles 62 and 63 and they may be declared disqualified by the Election Commission,” PPP Deputy Parliamentary Leader Shaukat Basra told Dawn.

He said the party would wait for their replies until Tuesday (today), and upon not receiving their response would file a petition in the ECP.

The PPP MPAs who had recently joined the PML-N included Nishat Ahmed Daha, Syed Jamil Shah, Rana Babar Husain and Abbas Zafar Hiraj from Khanewal district; Rana Munawwar Husain and Sardar Kamil Gujjar from Sargodha; Javed Alauddin from Okara and Qaiser Sandhu from Gujranwala.

Azma Zahid Bukhari, an MPA from women’s reserved seat, along with her husband, Samiullah Khan (a former MPA and secretary-general Punjab), had also defected to the PML-N.