No-confidence motions submitted against Speaker, Deputy Speaker Punjab Assembly
LAHORE, April 06 (SABAH): The Punjab Assembly received two no-trust motions in a single day on Wednesday, one against Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi by the joint opposition and the other by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) against its own Deputy Speaker Sardar Dost Muhammad Mazari.
However, the opposition’s motion was not accepted by the assembly secretariat. The PML-N’s no-confidence resolution against PA Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi alleged that he violated assembly rules and influenced PA matters despite having no jurisdiction as he was currently contesting for Punjab chief.
Meanwhile the Punjab Assembly was sealed on Wednesday, with barbed wires installed atop its boundary walls and the building’s main gate locked, amid confusion over the scheduling of a crucial session for the election of the province’s new chief minister.
A large contingent of police has been deployed outside the assembly, with personnel carrying batons and shields. Meanwhile, water cannons and Rescue 1122 vehicles are also parked outside the assembly’s building.
The development coincides with the submission of a no-confidence motion against Deputy Speaker Sardar Dost Muhammad Mazari, after he said the session for the chief minister’s election would take place today at 7:30 pm, but a spokesperson for the provincial assembly and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) denied the development.
Reacting to the development, PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari decried that the deputy speaker had been “locked out” of the assembly on the day of voting for the chief minister’s election.
The PPP chairman said in a tweet: “If it takes 30 seconds to pull off a coup, it should take 30 seconds to undo a coup. Justice delayed is justice denied. After last week’s constitutional breakdown in Islamabad, today Punjab deputy speaker was locked out of [the] assembly on [the] day of voting for CM. Barbered [sic] wire around people’s house.”
The resolution seeking the removal of the deputy speaker was filed by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and PML-Q lawmakers on Wednesday, the PML-Q spokesperson confirmed to a private TV channel. He said the resolution was submitted at the office of the Punjab Assembly’s secretary.
The resolution was addressed to the provincial assembly Speaker, PML-Q’s Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, who is also a candidate for the chief minister.
In the resolution, the lawmakers said Mazari had lost the confidence of the majority of the house and that provincial assembly proceedings were not being carried out according to the Constitution.
They maintained that in light of the “current situation in the country, he (Mazari) had eradicated democratic norms in the provincial assembly of Punjab”.
“We, the members of PTI and PML, hereby give notice under 53 (7) (c) read with Article 127 of the Constitution under rule 12 of the Rules of Procedure Provincial Assembly of Punjab, 1997 for […] the resolution for removal of the deputy speaker of the Punjab Assembly,” the motion read.
According to rule 12, a no-confidence motion against a speaker or deputy speaker shall be entered into the provincial assembly’s List of Business for the first working day after the expiry of seven days of the receipt of the notice. The rule further says that “no other item shall be included in the List of Business for the day fixed for a motion for leave to move a resolution”.
According to the rule, the votes of at least one-fourth of the total members the house will be required for the tabling of the resolution.
The rule further states that the assembly “should not be adjourned until the motion for leave is disposed of or, if the leave is granted [to move the resolution], the resolution has been voted upon”.
Article 53 (7) (c) of the Constitution also pertains to the removal of a speaker or deputy speaker, stating that “the office of the speaker or deputy speaker shall become vacant if he is removed from the office by a resolution of the assembly, of which not less than seven days’ notice has been given, which is passed by the votes of the majority of the total membership of the assembly.”
Following the submission of the no-confidence motion, the PML-Q spokesperson said Mazari no longer had the authority to call an assembly session.
Later, the Punjab Assembly speaker issued a notification, withdrawing all powers delegated to Mazari.
The notification read: “In suppression of my earlier order and in exercise of the powers vested in me under rule 15 read with rule 235 of the Rules of Procedures of the Provincial Assembly of Punjab, 1997, I, Parvez Elahi, speaker [of] the provincial assembly of Punjab, hereby withdraw the powers delegated to Mr deputy speaker in terms of rule 25 of the Rules ibid with immediate effect.”
Deputy Speaker Mazari moved the Supreme Court to take notice of the ongoing constitutional crises in the province, and expressed concern over the lack of cooperation in the assembly secretariat after he had summoned the house.
Talking to the media, Mazari said his staff was also being harassed and pressurised, despite him having the powers of the speaker as the current speaker, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, is now contesting for the provincial chief minister’s position.
“In accordance with law I can conduct the house despite the no-trust motion that has been moved against me,” Mazari said, adding that the election was for selecting a chief minister, not a deputy speaker.
He further said that the PA secretariat was unlawful in its act of not assembling the house and that people were aware of the perpetrators who did not want the session to be conducted.