Islamabad:
The opposition, Pakistan Tehreek-E-Insaf (PTI), expelled five members of the National Assembly on Sunday for going against the party line during the vote on the 26th constitutional amendment in the National Assembly in October last month.
According to the separate notifications issued by the president of the PTI, the lawyer Gohar Ali Khan, the expelled members are Aurengzeb Khichi, Zahoor Hussain Qureshi, Usman Ali, Mubarak Zeb and Ilyas Chaudhry. These independent legislators were supported by the PTI in the general elections of 2024.
The equally written notifications declared that these legislators violated the instructions of the party and voted in favor of the 26th Constitutional Amendment Law on October 21, 2024, while the party in a meeting had unanimously decided to oppose the amendment.
“It is declared that he has violated his commitment, oath and loyalty to the party. You have acted contrary to the instructions of the party while you voted in favor of the 26th Constitutional Law (amendment) 2024,” said one of the five notifications, sent to Qureshi.
“And by [that] conduct [you] They have joined another parliamentary party in the National Assembly. Therefore, you are expelled from the party (PTI) immediately. It is not necessary to add that it is also disqualified by the aforementioned behavior, “he added.
The 26th amendment was approved with a two -thirds majority. Among the opposition parties, the Jamiat Ulema-E-Islam (Jui) had supported the government after several rounds of negotiations. However, the PTI decided to oppose the bill. However, the government was able to get five members on its side.
Shortly after the bill was approved, the PTI decided to take legal actions against their legislators who had violated the party’s policy. At that time, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif had said that these legislators had been chosen as independent; Therefore, they were not bound by any decision of the party.
The PTI notifications on Sunday said that notices were issued to the dissident members of the National Assembly on November 5, 2024 to show why “they should not declare themselves from the part, but” did not respond to the notification. “
The notifications also declared that these members deserved the disqualification of being elected representatives for joining another party. The president of PTI demanded that the president of the National Assembly disqualify that these members.
Among the expelled members, Khichi was chosen for the National Assembly of NA-159 Vehari-IV; Qureshi of Na-146 Khanewal-III; Usman Ali de Na.142, Sahiwal-II; Muhammad Ilyas Choudhry of Na.62, Gujrat-i and Mubarak Zeb of Na.8, Bajaur.
