Last day of voting on no-trust motion against PM Imran Khan

ISLAMABAD: The voting on no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan will be held today (Saturday) at all costs, according to the Supreme Court verdict.

National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser could not take up agenda other than voting on no-trust motion and if he did not do so, he would have to face contempt of court proceedings.

National Assembly officials told Geo News that according to the SC larger bench's written order, the NA Speaker has been made duty bound to proceed with the no-trust motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan as per the April 3 agenda of the National Assembly.

NA officials said that the voting on no-trust motion could take place within seven days of its submission and last Sunday (April 3) was the last day of voting, so SC's larger bench ordered the NA Speaker to revive the April 3 agenda of the National Assembly and conduct voting on the no-confidence motion. Therefore, today (April 9) will be considered last day (seventh day) of voting on the no-confidence motion and it is essential to move with the set agenda.

NA officials said that it is written in the para 10 of the SC order if no trust motion succeeds, the NA Speaker will make it sure to elect leader of the House as per Article 91 of the Constitution and Article 32 of Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly.

The NA officials said if no-trust motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan succeeds, the National Assembly session will be prorogued till Sunday for the election of the new Leader of the House and the National Assembly Secretariat would begin with its necessary documentation. The NA Secretariat has prepared forms for the nomination of the new Leader of the House and those forms would be issued as soon as the session is prorogued and scrutiny of the nomination forms will be completed till night and list of the candidates for PM's slot will be issued at night and after that the National Assembly will elect new prime minister on Sunday.

To a question that the government wants to hold a debate on the issue of the letter, the NA official said it was impossible. They said the government will have to submit separate resolution in the NA Secretariat for the debate on the letter and briefing of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs secretary to the House and will have to seek permission of the House if the House should be converted into a standing committee. The opposition enjoys itself majority in the House, so it can reject this resolution.

When asked if the government tried to get the voting on the no-trust motion delayed for a day or a week, the NA official said that in this situation, the NA Speaker would violate SC's larger bench order and should get ready to face 5-year disqualification and contempt of court.