Sirajul Haq, the chief of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), announced his resignation on Monday following the party’s poor performance in the February 8 general elections. Haq, who has held the position of JI emir since 2014, acknowledged the failure of the religious-political party to secure any seats in the National Assembly.

In provisional results, independent candidates backed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) are leading the race with 101 seats, followed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) with 75 seats and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) with 54 seats.

Earlier on the same day, Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman, the JI Karachi emir, also resigned from his provincial assembly seat, PS-129, in Karachi. He clarified that the seat was won by a candidate supported by the PTI, not by himself.

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During a press conference in Karachi, Naeem stated that he did not want to hold a seat acquired through what he referred to as “charity.” Despite his defeat, Naeem vowed to continue the legal and political battle to reclaim all seats lost by his party due to alleged rigging, emphasizing that deceitful manipulation of the mandate does not alter the will of the people.

In the February 8 general elections, Naeem initially won the Sindh Assembly seat PS-129 from Karachi Central. However, he clarified that it was the PTI-supported candidate who emerged victorious in PS-129, not him. Declining to take the oath as a Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) for the contested seat, Naeem advocated for the rightful winner to assume the position.