Joint session ‘big victory’ for Govt, Opp to move ‘no-confidence’ motion against Senate Chairman

The government on Wednesday managed to force amendments to the Elections Act, 2017, allowing the use of electronic voting machines and granting voting rights to overseas Pakistanis. A total of 33 bills were passed amidst the Opposition’s continuous protest against them.

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry termed the passage of 33 bills in a joint sitting of parliament a “big victory” for the government.

Speaking at a press conference, Fawad said, “The Opposition will remember this defeat for a long time and must have realised about its strength today (Wednesday) in parliament and now its dream to remove the Senate chairman will not come true.”

“Those considering moving no-confidence motion against government functionaries should have a second thought about their assessments,” said Fawad.

The Opposition on Wednesday decided to challenge the bills that were passed in parliament.

Earlier the Opposition was considering bringing a no-confidence motion against Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani or National Assembly (NA) Speaker Asad Qaiser as a tester to confirm the present strength of treasury in parliament.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Khurram Dastagir said on a Dawn News TV show that the motion would be moved soon. They said if the motion became successful, then a similar motion could be moved against the Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan.

On the Opposition’s decision to move the court against the bills, Fawad said both the Houses had approved the legislation, so it would not be an “easy task” to challenge them.

“Both the Houses have passed the bills […] it will be hard to challenge them, but they can be challenged,” added Fawad.

Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif, speaking to media outside Parliament, said legislation was bulldozed and NA Speaker Asad Qaiser had “trampled” Parliamentary traditions.

“Legislation cannot take place in such an atmosphere […] the votes counted for the Opposition were far fewer than their actual numbers,” he added.

“We believe three or four additional votes were counted in favour of the government,” he said, adding: “We had more than 200 lawmakers in the house today.”

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said, “The government did not emerge victorious today in parliament.”

Bilawal tried to explain that according to the law, more than half of the combined votes of a joint sitting were required to get a law passed in parliament.

Bilawal said he “tried his best” to draw the attention of the treasury benches and NA Speaker towards the joint sitting’s rules, but no one paid heed to it.