Islamabad:
The opposition, Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf (PTI), expelled five members of the National Assembly on Sunday for having opted for the line of the party during the vote on the 26th constitutional amendment of the National Assembly last October.
According to separate notifications issued by the president of the PTI, lawyer Gohar Ali Khan, the expelled members are Aurangzeb Kichi, Zahoor Hussain Qureshi, Usman Ali, Mubarak Zeb and Ilyas Chaudhry. These independent legislators were supported by the PTI during the general elections of 2024.
Similar notifications declared that these legislators had violated the instructions of the party and voted in favor of the 26th bill for constitutional modification on October 21, 2024, while the party at a meeting had unanimously decided to oppose the amendment.
“You are declared by this violated your engagement, your oath and your loyalty to the party. You acted unlike the party’s instructions while you were in favor of the 26th constitutional bill (amendment),” said one of the five notifications, sent to Qureshi.
“And by [that] to drive [you] joined another parliamentary party in the National Assembly. You are therefore immediately expelled from the party (PTI). Needless to say, you are also disqualified due to the aforementioned driving, “he added.
The 26th amendment was adopted with a majority of two thirds. Among the opposition parties, Jamiat Ulema-E-Islam (JUI) supported the government after several cycles of negotiations. However, the PTI has chosen to oppose the bill. However, the government was able to obtain five members on its side.
Shortly after the adoption of the bill, the PTI decided to bring legal action against its legislators who had violated party policy. At that time, the Minister of Defense, Khawaja Asif, said that these legislators had been independent elected; Consequently, they were not bound by any decision of the party.
PTI notifications said on Sunday that opinions had been issued to the dissident members of the National Assembly on November 5, 2024 to show why they “should not be declared having defected” of the party, but “you did not respond to the opinion”.
Notifications also said that these members deserved disqualification of being elected for joining another part. The president of the PTI asked the president of the National Assembly to disqualify that these members.
Among the expelled members, Khichi was elected to the National Assembly of Na-159 Vehari-IV; Quresi de Na-146 Khanewal-III; Usman Ali de Na.142, Sahiwal-II; Muhammad Ilyas Choudhry de Na.62, Gujrat-i and Mubarak Zeb de Na.8, Bajaur.
