The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government on Monday filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking clarification on a constitutional point regarding disqualification of the dissident lawmakers who have threatened to vote against embattled Prime Minister Imran Khan during a no-trust motion.
Attorney General Khalid Jawed Khan submitted the move, also called a presidential reference, about interpretation of Article 63-A of the Constitution in the wake of nearly two dozen lawmakers of the ruling party threatening to vote in favour of the opposition's no-trust motion.
The article says that anyone voting against the directive of the party leader on key issues like no-trust move or money bill will be disqualified.
The law is silent on the duration of disqualification, but Prime Minister Khan has threatened life-time disqualification for the dissidents.
A two-judge bench, comprising Pakistan Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Munib Akhtar, will take up the matter along with a plea filed by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) seeking intervention to keep peace ahead of the no-trust vote.
The petition highlights two interpretations of disqualification under Article 63-A, including simple de-seating the member with no further curbs, and lifetime disqualification along with the zero effects of the vitiated vote. Khan's party is trying to seek a ruling that an erring member's vote should not be counted, so that vote of its dissident lawmakers in the favour of the no-trust move should not add to the total number of votes against the Prime Minister.
These votes are crucial as the opposition needs 172 votes to remove the Prime Minister along with his cabinet. Around 100 lawmakers from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP) submitted the no-confidence motion before the National Assembly Secretariat on March 8, alleging that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf PTI Government led by Prime Minister Khan was responsible for the economic crisis and the spiralling inflation in the country.