After a significant delay and marathon consultations with the allies, the government has finally decided to call the joint session of the parliament on Wednesday (today). The bill concerning the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) is the main legislation along with some other pending bills. According to a notification issued by the Parliament Secretariat, the joint sitting has been convened by President Dr Arif Alvi under Article 54(1) of the Constitution. On the other hand, Prime Minister Imran Khan Tuesday met with some parliamentarians of the government allies to get their support for passage of the bills. In a statement, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry claimed that the government allies had expressed confidence in the leadership of Prime Minister Khan and assured him of voting in favor of the bills. PML-Q, which is the main collusion partner of the government, has yet not officially announced its decision regarding the legislation. Talking to Daily Times, PML-Q Information Secretary Kamil Ali Agha said although Chaudhry Pervez Elahi had met with the prime minister and discussed matters related to the controversial legislation, it had not been decided yet whether they would support the bills or not. Agha further said his party had clear reservations about the government’s poor economic strategies and unprecedented price hike along with steep increase in the cost of petroleum products. On November 10, a few hours after Prime Minister Imran Khan urged parliamentarians of the ruling alliance to wage a “Jihad” by voting in favor of legislation in the parliament, the government shelved the joint sitting of the two houses scheduled to get a bill related to EVMs passed. On the other hand, the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) is preparing to approach the Supreme Court against the said ‘controversial’ lawmaking. The PDM, a day earlier, had decided to challenge the bills in the Supreme Court and ramp up the opposition alliance’s countrywide protests. In a virtual meeting, chaired by PDM chief Fazlur Rehman, the alliance tasked JUI-F Senator Kamran Murtaza, PML-N Deputy Secretary Atta Tarar, and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi with preparing legal grounds for challenging the bills in the top court. According to a statement issued by PDM, the bills include The National Accountability (Third Amendment) Ordinance 2021, electronic voting machine, and the bill which seeks to curtail the State Bank of Pakistan’s powers and handing it over to the International Monetary Fund. “The participants of the meeting decided to call a meeting of PDM’s steering committee on November 22, in which legal suggestions against the government’s bills will be presented,” the statement added. The steering committee has also been asked to make recommendations for a decisive anti-government long march and present them in the PDM leadership’s meeting on November 23.