Pakistan National Assembly restore, voting on no-confidence vote to be held on 9th April

Pakistan Supreme Court on Thursday set aside the ruling of the Deputy Speaker which rejected the no-confidence motion against the Imran Khan government and gave directions for holding a sitting of the National Assembly “not later than 10:30 am on April 9” for the no-trust vote.

The court overturned all further actions taken after the no-confidence vote was rejected and reinstated the National Assembly.

It further stated that the Prime Minister and federal ministers, state ministers, advisers, and others had been reinstated to their positions as of April 3.

“The Speaker is under a duty to summon and hold a sitting of the Assembly in the present Session and shall do so immediately and in any case not later than 10:30 a.m. on Saturday 09.04.2022, to conduct the business of the House as per the Orders of the Day that had been issued for 03.04.2022 and in terms as stated in, and required by, Article 95 of the Constitution read with Rule 37 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly Rules, 2007 (“Rules”),” the Supreme Court verdict said.

The top court further ruled that the National Assembly session on the no-confidence motion must be held on Saturday and must not be adjourned until a vote on the motion.

“The Speaker shall not, in exercise of his powers under clause (3) Article 54 of the Constitution, prorogue the Assembly and bring the Session to an end,” the ruling read.

The Supreme Court also said that if Imran Khan is removed as a result of the no-confidence motion, the new leader of the House should be elected in the same session.

The opposition appeared to have the numbers for the no-confidence motion with some allies of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-(PTI) deciding to part ways. Several members of PTI had also turned rebels.

On the day of voting on the no-confidence resolution on April 3, the National Assembly Deputy Speaker Sadiq Sanjrani rejected the no-confidence motion against the government on “constitutional grounds”, after allegations of a “foreign conspiracy” to topple Imran Khan’s government were made by minister Fawad Chaudhary in the House.

In an address to the nation, shortly afterwards, Imran Khan announced that he had recommended President Arif Alvi to dissolve the National Assembly and call for fresh elections.

The Pakistani National Assembly has a total strength of 342 members, with the majority mark being 172. The PTI led coalition was formed with the support of 179 members, with Imran Khan’s PTI having 155 members, and four major allies MQM-P, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) having seven, five, five and three members respectively.

The opposition parties had apparently mustered numbers in its favour ahead of the no-trust vote with MQM-P deciding to join.