Article 63-A; Government Strategy to outfox Opposition No Confidence Move.

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(By Ms.Talat Naseem)

Opposition has already furnished notice of Resolution for vote of no confidence against the incumbent PM Imran Khan under clause (1) of Article 95 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan. For no confidence motion to be successful, the support of simple majority 172/342 members of lower house is required. As per claims of PTI, PM enjoys support of 184 MNAs in the house, while opposition benches are counting on to 172 required majority. Anyhow this political slogans of making and breaking of numbers is not reliable until the motion takes place in the house.
This political upheaval is giving birth to certain constitutional way out to achieve political ends, and thats fair enough, as per the constitutional framework. If opposition is claiming to use its constitutional right under clause(1) of Article 95, then government is also after constitutional manoeuvring by relying on Article 63(A) of the constitution. In other words, PTI is using the strategy of defections clause to outfox opposition in the house.
What is defection clause by the way?
According to the Article 63 (A) clause 1(b) member of National Assembly can be disqualified if he goes against his parliamentary party direction for voting or abstains from voting. In case of deviance, he will be declared in writing by the party head to have defected from the political party. The same declaration will be forwarded to the President of the house and also Chairman ECP.
What is debate on applicability of defection clause?
The debate mainly revolves around authority of the speaker regarding defection clause. PTI claims that the speaker of NA has the exclusive ruling, restraining MNAs from casting vote in violation of directives issues by his party head. PTI also claims that such authority of the speaker cannot be challenged in any court of law. However the opposition camp denies this interpretation of defection clause by claiming that the speaker has no such authority to pass a ruling for restraining any MNA from casting vote. This reminds us the Azhar Siddique case in which the Supreme Court had rejected speaker’s ruling and de-seated PM Yousaf Raza Gillani. So, neutral interpretation of the defection clause seems favouring opposition’s view because the clause is self explanatory. The speaker’s authority does work but once the voting process is over. Amidst this debate, opposition seems skeptical of the incumbent speaker for its partial role to save PM Imran Khan. Echoes about no confidence against the speaker before PM are also surfacing.
Constitutional makers leave the loopholes to play with the interpretations, defection clause can be such loophole for escape. Nonetheless, implementation of the defection clause is uncertain time taking and a bumpy ride as it involved Election Commission of Pakistan and Supreme court. It can be a delaying tactic but may not be instrumental in preventing no- confidence move. It is very advisable that government should politically tackle the situation as the technical nature of the defection clause may be misleading.

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