All lawmakers belonging to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party on Monday resigned from the National Assembly ahead of the voting to elect a new prime minister, dawn.com reported.
The move came after Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who was the party's candidate for the top slot, announced that PTI lawmakers would be resigning en masse from the National Assembly.
Imran Khan's close aide and former information minister Fawad Chaudhry had earlier announced the decision and also said that the PTI has refused to be a part of the so-called election for which the party has nominated ex-foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
"Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Parliamentary Committee has decided to resign from the National Assembly. Today, all members of the Assembly are submitting their resignations to the Speaker... We will fight for freedom," Chaudhry tweeted.
Meanwhile, GEO TV quoted sources as saying that Imran Khan has also decided to quit as a member of the National Assembly.
"We will not sit in this Assembly under any circumstances," sources privy to the matter quoted Khan as saying.
He said that PTI will not sit in the Assembly with the people who have robbed Pakistan and who have been "imported by foreign forces".
"We have made this decision to keep the institutions under pressure who want this government to run the country [...] we will not let them continue."
However, sources said that most of the party members opposed Khan's decision to tender resignations, and instead, advised that they should face the Opposition strongly at every front.
Khan responded, saying "I will resign even if I am left alone."
Opposition candidate and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shehbaz Sharif and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi are in the race to become the new premier.
The process of electing the new leader of the house began on Sunday after Khan was removed from office through a no-confidence vote, becoming the first premier in the country's history to be sent home after losing the trust of the House.
The joint Opposition - a rainbow of socialist, liberal and radically religious parties - has nominated 70-year-old Shehbaz for the premier's post while ex-foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi was named by Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) as its candidate.
Khan's successor will be elected in the National Assembly on Monday and a special session has been summoned. In the house of 342, the winner would need 172 votes to become the new prime minister.
Shehbaz is likely to be elected the new leader of the house.
However, it will be a real challenge for him to shepherd the motley herd that also includes four independent candidates and allow Parliament to complete its five-year term that will end in August next year.
Before filing nomination, Shehbaz offered "special thanks" to those who stood up "for the Constitution!"
"I don't want to go back to the bitterness of the past. We want to forget them and move forward. We will not take revenge or do injustice; we will not send people to jail for no reason, law and justice will take its course," he said while addressing the National Assembly early Sunday.
Ex-president and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chair Asif Ali Zaradri had proposed Shehbaz's name for prime minister in a joint opposition's meeting.
Zardari's son Bilawal Bhutto is likely to be appointed as the new foreign minister.
According to media reports, in the run up to the no-trust vote, Khan made a botched attempt to replace Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa in order to bring someone more pliant and sympathetic to his idea of foreign conspiracy and cling on to power.
