Daily Times

The National Assembly Secretariat has advised Speaker Asad Qaiser to call the lower house session as per rules before March 22 after declaring that the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan has been filed as per rules.

Wishing anonymity, a source privy to the matter said summoning a session is a constitutional requirement that cannot be disregarded.

Verification of signatures of the opposition MNAs on the motion and requisition of the assembly session has been completed, he said.

He added that none of the signatures was found suspicious or against the rules, after which the Secretariat forwarded the file to the speaker. According to sources, the first phase was verification of signatures on the requisition and the second was verification of signatures on the no-trust motion.

The joint opposition submitted the said motion on March 8. According to Article 54 of the Constitution, the NA speaker has a maximum of 14 days to summon the following the requisition.

After the session has been called, the NA secretary will circulate the notice to the members and the resolution of a vote of no-confidence will be moved on the next working day. From the day the resolution is moved, it “shall not be voted upon before the expiry of three days, or later than seven days,” according to the rules of procedure.

Initially, the no-trust motion was only against PM Imran Khan but a day ago the opposition included NA speaker and deputy speaker as well. According to the joint opposition, the speaker and deputy speaker gave “biased remarks” about the no-trust motion against PM Imran Khan. Subsequently, it had been unanimously decided to table no-confidence motions against NA Speaker Asad Qaiser and Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri.

The draft of the no-trust motions against the NA speaker and deputy speaker, signed by over 100 MNAs, has been sent to the opposition’s leadership. As per the draft of the no-trust move, the NA speaker and his deputy have been accused of being biased. It said that the duo has violated the rules, as they have not yet resigned from their party’s posts.

The duo has been running the house as per the directions of their party and instead of remaining neutral, they have been exhibiting a biased attitude against the opposition, reads the draft.

“Asad Qaiser and Qasim Khan Suri have been attending the party meetings held with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the chair,” it added.

The opposition claimed that they had the backing of 28 PTI lawmakers and others from an ally of the government. The opposition has 162 members in the National Assembly against 180 treasury members. The opposition needs 19 members for a majority vote. The government has 48 members in the Senate against 51 senators of the opposition. Likewise, the government also commands a majority in the Punjab Assembly with a strength of 199 lawmakers, while the opposition has 172 members.

The government has 156 members in the 342-member National Assembly and enjoys support of 24 members belonging to the MQM, PML-Q, and other parties. Similarly, in the 99-member Senate, the ruling party has 28 senators and support of 20 senators of allies, while 51 senators belong to the opposition.