Explainer: Supreme Court verdict on Article 63-A

A reference under Article 186 of the constitution was filed by President Arif Alvi seeking an interpretation of Article 63-A and asking if a lifetime ban could be placed on defecting parliamentarians. By a majority of 3:2 it was ruled that a purposive approach should be adopted for the interpretation of Article 63-A in order

A reference under Article 186 of the constitution was filed by President Arif Alvi seeking an interpretation of Article 63-A and asking if a lifetime ban could be placed on defecting parliamentarians. By a majority of 3:2 it was ruled that a purposive approach should be adopted for the interpretation of Article 63-A in order to effectively enforce the fundamental rights of parties under Article 17 of the constitution, hence it was decided that any vote cast contrary to party directions would not be counted. As far as the second question is concerned the courts clarified that extending the punishment to a life time disqualification is a matter that needs to be decided by the Parliament.

As a consequence the election commission of Pakistan (ECP) de- seated 25 dissident MPAs of the PTI who voted for PML-N’s Shehbaz Sharif in the election for Punjab chief minister.

What next for Punjab Assembly

There are 371 seats in the Punjab assembly however for the chief minister to be elected there needs to be a simple majority hence 186 votes need to be acquired to win the election but if no person secures this number of the total membership in the first round, then a second round of voting shall be held in this round whoever secures the majority vote from the members present shall win.

Relevant laws

Freedom of association

(1) Every citizen shall have the right to form associations or unions, subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interest of sovereignty or integrity of Pakistan, public order or morality.

(2) Every citizen, not being in the service of Pakistan, shall have the right to form or be a member of a political party, subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interest of the sovereignty or integrity of Pakistan and such law shall provide that where the Federal Government declares that any political party has been formed or is operating in a manner prejudicial to the sovereignty or integrity of Pakistan, the Federal Government shall, within fifteen days of such declaration, refer the matter to the Supreme Court whose decision on such reference shall be final.

Disqualification on grounds of defection, etc.

63A. (1) If a member of a Parliamentary Party composed of a single

political party in a House—

(a) resigns from membership of his political party or joins another Parliamentary party; or
(b) votes or abstains from voting in the House contrary to any direction issued by the Parliamentary Party to which he belongs, in relation to—

(i) election of the Prime Minister or the Chief Minister; or

(ii) a vote of confidence or a vote of no-confidence; or

(iii) a Money Bill or a Constitution (Amendment) Bill;

Advisory Jurisdiction

(1) If, at any time, the President considers that it is desirable to obtain the opinion of the Supreme Court on any question of law which he considers of public importance, he may refer the question to the Supreme Court for consideration.

(2) The Supreme Court shall consider a question so referred and report its opinion on the question to the President.