As many as eighty-five opposition members of the Pakistan National Assembly or Lower House of Parliament Tuesday tendered their resignations to the speaker to protest General Pervez Musharraf's re-election as president from the present legislature, officials said. Members of the opposition grouping, All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM), belonging to the provincial assemblies of Punjab, Balochistan and Sindh also handed over their resignations to their speakers. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Sher Afgan said that the resignations would not affect the October 6 presidential election in any way. The National Assembly has a total of 342 MPs. Those who quit also included the MPs hailing from former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (PML). However, lawmakers of Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) did not resign. National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain told reporters that under the Pakistan Constitution the resignations of lawmakers would not affect the presidential election. He said that after scrutiny up to his satisfaction he would refer these resignations to the Election Commission of Pakistan for further action.
