Daily Times

The federal government has decided to approach the Supreme Court for interpretation of Article 63-A, as several PTI lawmakers have announced to vote on the no-trust motion in a violation of the party policy, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said Friday.

The decision was taken during a consultative meeting of the PTI’s political committee with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the chair. The meeting was convened to discuss the legal options available to act against the disgruntled lawmakers and counter the opposition’s move to dislodge the government.

It came to light Thursday that around 24 PTI MNAs were residing at the Sindh House in Islamabad and some of them had publicly announced to go against the party.

Hours later, the prime minister called a meeting of the senior party leadership and directed the National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser to approach the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) against the disgruntled members.

In a series of tweets, Fawad Chaudhry said the government would file a petition under Article 186 of the Constitution to seek the interpretation of Article 63-A.

“… we will seek the Supreme Court’s interpretation as to what will be the standing of a party member’s vote who is found in violation of the party’s policy and is involved in horse-trading,” the federal minister said. The information minister said the government would seek the apex court’s guidance on whether a person, who shifts loyalty for monetary benefit, should be ineligible for a lifetime for becoming a lawmaker or whether they could contest polls again and be elected to parliament.

“The Supreme Court will be requested to hear the case on a daily basis,” he said.

The prime minister, according to sources, assigned the responsibility for filing the reference with the apex court to PTI Additional Secretary Amir Mahmood Kiani and Adviser to the Prime Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan. “We will take such decisions that no one will be able to indulge in horse-trading next time,” the prime minister told the participants.

Moreover, the prime minister, according to sources, decided against taking extreme measures and announced that the federal government will not impose the governor’s rule in Sindh. ‘We will not impose governor’s rule in Sindh,” he said.

During the meeting, majority of participants opposed the move after the interior minister presented a summary in this regard.

“Only two federal ministers backed the idea,” sources said.

The PM, however, directed to deliberate further on the issue, saying the situation will deteriorate further by imposing the governor’s rule.

Flanked by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Minister for Planning, Development & Special Initiatives Asad Umar, he said discussions were underway in different circles that whether a parliamentarian, who was involved in horse trading, could cast a vote under the Article 63A of Constitution.

“To remove this confusion, we are approaching the Supreme Court to explain whether the Constitution allows horse trading or not,” he said, adding a presidential reference in that regard would be filed with the SC on Monday. Instructions had been issued for preparing the reference.

The apex court’s advice would also be sought on whether those who were disqualified for defecting the party, could contest the election again or were banned for the lifetime, he added.

Fawad said there would be two separate proceedings. On the one hand, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser would start the process for disqualification [of the PTI’s dissident MNAs], and on the other, the apex court would be requested for day-to-day hearings to get answers of the above mentioned questions.