Pakistan PM Imran Khan to face no-confidence vote on Friday
Mar 21, 2022
Islamabad [Pakistan], March 21 : Almost two weeks after the opposition parties submitted a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser on Sunday summoned session of the Lower House at the Parliament House in Islamabad on Friday.
The joint opposition made the requisition for the session along with the submission of the no-confidence motion against the prime minister on March 8. The Speaker summoned the session under Article 54 (3) and Article 254 of the Constitution, The Nation reported.
The 14-day constitutional deadline to convene the NA session on the Opposition requisition will expire on March 21.
Clause 3 of Article 54 of the Pakistan Constitution says, "On a requisition signed by not less than one-fourth of the total membership of the National Assembly, the Speaker shall summon the National Assembly to meet, at such time and place as he thinks fit, within fourteen days of the receipt of the requisition; and when the Speaker has summoned the Assembly only he may prorogue it", The Nation reported.
According to Article 254, "When any act or thing is required by the Constitution to be done within a particular period and it is not done within that period, the doing of the act or thing shall not be invalid or otherwise ineffective by reason only that it was not done within that period," the Pakistani newspaper reported.
The opposition leader has expressed frustration over the delay in conducting voting on no-confidence against Khan and claimed that National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser is biased.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that the right to bring about a no-confidence motion is democratic and a constitutional right, adding that the votes cannot be bought this time, reported Geo News.
"The speaker was biased since day one, and is still showing his bias," the senior leader claimed.
