In the wake of the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan, the ruling party fears that its members will vote against its prime minister, prompting action under Article 63A against them.
Urdu News research has revealed that despite the inclusion of the provision against floor crossing in the constitution since 2010, no member has been de-seated through the Election Commission till date. However, members who leave the party consider it appropriate to resign and leave the House before being disqualified under this constitutional violation.
According to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) sources, potential deviant members of the party have also informed their party that if they vote against the party's policy, they will resign from the assembly immediately afterwards. As a result, not only will the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) not be able to take action against its deviant members, but the number of members elected on the PTI symbol in the House may also be reduced.
When the results of the National Assembly constituencies came out in the 2002 general elections, the then Kings Party, the PML-Q, was not in a position to form a government. In such a situation, the then establishment joined a faction of the PPP which was named PPP Patriot.
The group consisted of about 20 assembly members who, if they won, were on PPP tickets and election symbols, but instead of supporting their party, they declared their support for Pervez Musharraf.
This was the biggest incident of floor crossing in the recent parliamentary history of Pakistan but at that time the government of General Musharraf had suspended the law of floor crossing so PPP could not take any action against them.
When the PPP government was formed in 2008 and constitutional reforms were decided, Article 63A was added to the constitution in 2010. Under this article, if a member of the National Assembly resigns from the basic membership of his party or joins another party or abstains from voting during the voting against the will of the party leader or votes against it, he is disqualified. Action may be taken.
Matters in which the party chief may take action to terminate the membership of the member concerned include the election of the Prime Minister or Chief Minister, a vote of confidence or a vote of no confidence and voting on a money bill or a constitutional amendment bill. ۔
In these cases, if a person votes against the will of the party chief, the party chief will seek an explanation from his member and if he is not satisfied with the explanation, he will be declared a defector and inform the Speaker and the Election Commission in writing. The same written notice will also be sent to the member concerned.
The Speaker will send the matter to the Chief Election Commissioner within two days and if he does not refer the matter within two days, he will be deemed to have been referred. The Chief Election Commissioner will put it before the Election Commission which will decide on it within 30 days.
In case of deviation, the Assembly membership of the concerned member will be terminated and his seat will be declared vacant. An appeal against the decision of the Election Commission can be filed in the Supreme Court within 30 days, the decision of which will be final.
Dozens of members of the National Assembly have changed parties and allegiances since 2010, but no one has been prosecuted under the law.
The reason for this is that all the members of the National Assembly who have violated this article of the Constitution till date, used to resign from the House before the party could take legal action against them.
Marvi Memon was the first member of Pakistan's Assembly to violate Article 63A of the Constitution, who voted against the budget despite being a member of the PML-Q after an alliance was formed between the PML-Q and the PPP in 2011.
He resigned from the National Assembly on June 22, 2011 before any action could be taken against him by the PML-Q.
Before the 2013 and 2018 elections, dozens of people joined the PML-N and later the PTI, but the majority of them made the decision after the dissolution of the assemblies. However, there were some who left the party as members of the Assembly. If he had remained in the House despite having changed his party, he could have been de-seated by taking action against him under Article 63A, but more or less all of them had resigned from the Assembly as soon as they joined another party. ۔
Javed Hashmi is the only politician who has twice left the party after the implementation of Article 63A and resigned from the Assembly. When he joined the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in 2011, he delivered a smoky speech in the Assembly on September 24, 2011 and resigned and walked out of the House. Along with him, his daughter Maimona Hashmi also resigned from the House.
Javed Hashmi resigned from the assembly in September 2014 due to differences with the PTI during the 2014 sit-in for the second time.
Incumbent Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi refused to join the cabinet in 2011 when he was offered a new portfolio, saying goodbye to the PPP. Along with resigning from the party, he also resigned from the National Assembly on November 16, 2011. He later joined the PTI on November 27, 2011.
Sardar Asif Ahmed Ali of the Pakistan People's Party and Khawaja Muhammad Khan Hoti of the Awami National Party left their respective parties and joined the PTI, both of whom resigned from the National Assembly in December 2011.
Sardar Nabil Gabol, who left the PPP in 2013 and was elected to the National Assembly on an MQM ticket, resigned from the Assembly on February 24, 2015, when he quit the MQM in 2015.
In 2018, Jamaat-e-Islami MPA Sher Akbar Khan joined the PTI as a member of the National Assembly, but he misrepresented his party and said that he did not join any party, so against him. No action could be taken under Article 63A.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) member Ayesha Galali made allegations against Prime Minister Imran Khan and openly criticized the party's policy. The PTI filed a petition against him in the Election Commission. The ECP had rejected Imran Khan's plea stating that Ayesha Galali had not resigned from the party nor had she voted against the party's policy in the National Assembly, so she could not be de-seated.
The Supreme Court had also rejected Ayesha Galali's plea for de-seating on the same grounds.
In 2014, when the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) resigned en masse, PTI members Musarat Ahmed Zeb, Gulzar Khan and Nasir Khattak refused to resign. The members were pressured by the PTI to resign, but they refused.
