ISLAMABAD: President Arif Alvi has summoned the session of the lower house of the Parliament on Saturday, as Prime Minister Imran Khan wants to seek a vote of confidence.
According to a notification issued by the NA Secretariat on Thursday, the session has been summoned for the purpose of requiring the prime minister to obtain a vote of confidence from the National Assembly (NA) under Article 91(7) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
The president has summoned the National Assembly session in the exercise of powers conferred by clause (1) of Article 54 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Shaikh suffered defeat at the hands of Gilani in a major upset in Wednesday’s Senate polls as the latter secured 169 votes as against 164 bagged by the former. It has been stipulated that the rejected votes played a key role in the opposition candidate’s win as these exceeded the margin of victory.
Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry announced on Twitter that PM Imran will seek a confidence vote from the lower house on Saturday after the major upset in the Senate elections, wherein Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate and Federal Minister of Finance Hafeez Shaikh lost to Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) joint candidate and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) senior leader Yousaf Raza Gilani.
Fawad added that the session will commence at 12:15 pm.
In this regard, it emerged that the prime minister has barred members of National Assembly (MNAs) of PTI from leaving Islamabad.
As per details, PM Imran has directed all members to ensure their attendance in next session of the NA. Chief Whip Aamir Dogar has conveyed directions of the premier to all lawmakers of the ruling party.
During a meeting chaired by PM Imran, it was also decided to summon a special session of NA on Saturday in which the premier will take vote of confidence.
Sources have further said that Prime Minister Imran has also summoned a meeting of his legal team to discuss the vote.
Meanwhile, former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Thursday has said that since Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh had lost the Senate election on Wednesday (March 3), the prime minister had lost trust of the NA, and, therefore, the only solution to defuse the crisis was holding fresh elections in the country.
Talking to newsmen here along with Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Abbasi said that it was PDM’s open challenge to Prime Minister Imran Khan to face the opposition in elections.
“Now the National Assembly could no more be run through ‘rigging’ and ‘intimidation’,” the former prime minister said, and added the sooner elections were held the better it was for the country.
Terming the defeat of the ruling PTI’s candidate from Islamabad in Senate elections unprecedented and an expression of “no trust” in Prime Minister Imran, former prime minister and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, on behalf of the PDM, has asked the prime minister that he should resign forthwith.
“As many as 17 members of the ruling PTI voted against the party lines thus showing no-confidence in the leadership of PM Imran,” the PPP leader said.
A day earlier, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, while addressing a press conference alongside senior party leaders after the election results came in, had said that those standing with Prime Minister Imran will be seen on one side and those who prefer the ideology of PPP and PML-N have every right to join their ranks.
He had urged the party workers to hold on to their belief that the party would compete with the opposition alliance, and had added that it should be made clear who stood where after Wednesday’s vote.
The foreign minister had said that while the opposition may have joined hands, they had no basis for their union, and would be buried soon by their politics of self-interest.
“We informed the ECP (Election Commission of Pakistan) that it is your constitutional duty to ensure free and fair elections,” Qureshi had said, adding that the ECP had failed to ensure transparency. He had maintained that this was not something new, but had been happening for the past several years.
He had said that the opposition had been invited to embrace open ballots, but one could see the difference between what they practice and what they preach.
He had stated that the PTI did not find the ECP’s efforts to ensure transparency up to the standard.
“In this fight, the nation is watching who stands where,” he had maintained. “I want to ensure the voter, who cast their vote for the bat [PTI election symbol] that the fight will go on.”
Meanwhile, the ECP on Thursday took notice of federal ministers’ press conference and has sought a record of the press conference from the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), sources said, adding that action would be taken after reviewing the record.
Moreover, Pakistan Democratic Alliance (PDA) on Thursday filed a plea with the ECP for fresh Senate elections in the country. The plea moved by the PDA’s focal person states that the polls were not held as per the Supreme Court’s (SC) directions and the members were seen taking photographs while casting their votes.
The petitioner has pleaded with the ECP to ensure fresh Senate elections as per the SC’s directions.
