No-confidence move against PM: Can NA Speaker stop ‘disgruntled’ PTI MNAs from casting their votes?

ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser cannot stop disgruntled Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) members of the house from casting their votes in favor of no-confidence resolution against the prime minister, it is learnt.

According to the sources, the National Assembly speaker, on Monday, held a meeting with the legal team of the National Assembly Secretariat to discuss options to stop the PTI disgruntled MNAs from casting vote in the favor of the no-confidence resolution against the prime minister submitted by the joint-opposition.

The sources said the legal team of the National Assembly Secretariat told the speaker that members of the assembly cannot be stopped from casting vote. The legal team told the speaker that Article 63A of the Constitution is clear in this regard but the party itself can take action against those who violate its policy.

According to the sources, the speaker further asked what could happen if the party head sends names of suspicious PTI lawmakers to stop them for voting. To this, the legal team said that the speaker’s role would begin after the declaration from the party chief.

The sources said that Qaiser also raised another question and asked if any ruling could be given on dissenting PTI lawmakers to stop them from casting vote. The Secretariat team replied that ruling is the speaker’s prerogative, however, the Constitution and laws are clear on the matter, they said.

The joint-opposition had submitted a no-confidence resolution in the National Assembly Secretariat against the prime minister on March 9. Since then the government is mulling options on how to stop their party members from voting against its policy.

According to the sources, the joint-opposition also prepared drafts of no-confidence resolutions against Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser and Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri for recently giving “biased remarks” relating to the no-trust resolution against the prime minister.

They said that as many as 100 members of the National Assembly (MNAs) have the drafts of no-confidence resolutions separately for the NA speaker and the deputy speaker.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022