ISLAMABAD:
The opposition, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), on Sunday expelled five members of the National Assembly for going against the party line during the vote on the 26th Constitutional Amendment in the National Assembly in October last month.
According to separate notifications issued by PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, the expelled members are Aurangzeb Khichi, Zahoor Hussain Qureshi, Usman Ali, Mubarak Zeb and Ilyas Chaudhry. These independent lawmakers were supported by the PTI in the 2024 general elections.
The similarly-worded notifications stated that these lawmakers violated the party instructions and voted in favour of the 26th Constitutional Amendment Bill on October 21, 2024, while the party in a meeting had unanimously decided to oppose the amendment.
“You are hereby declared to have violated your commitment, oath and loyalty to the Party. You have acted contrary to the instructions of the Party as you voted in favor of 26th Constitutional (Amendment) Bill 2024,” said one of five notifications, sent to Qureshi.
“And by [that] conduct [you] have joined another Parliamentary Party in the National Assembly. You are therefore expelled from the Party (PTI) forthwith. Needless to add that you also stand disqualified on account of the aforesaid conduct,” it added.
The 26th Amendment was passed with a two-thirds majority. Among the opposition parties, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) had supported the government after several rounds of negotiations. The PTI however, chose to oppose the bill. Yet the government was able to get five members on its side.
Soon after the bill was passed, the PTI decided to take legal action against its lawmakers who had violated the party policy. At that time, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had said that these lawmakers had been elected as independents; therefore, they were not bound by any party decision.
The PTI’s notifications on Sunday said that notices were issued to the dissenting National Assembly members on November 5, 2024 to show cause why they “should not be declared to have defected” from the party, but “you did not respond to the notice”.
The notifications also stated that these members deserved of disqualification from being elected representatives for joining another party. The PTI chairman demanded of the National Assembly speaker to disqualify that these members.
Among the expelled members Khichi was elected to the National Assembly from NA-159 Vehari-IV; Qureshi from NA-146 Khanewal-III; Usman Ali from NA.142, Sahiwal-II; Muhammad Ilyas Choudhry from NA.62, Gujrat-I and Mubarak Zeb from NA.8, Bajaur.
