The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has formally expelled five of its National Assembly members for defying party directives and voting in favour of the 26th Constitutional Amendment Bill in August last year.

 

The expulsions of PTI MNAs were confirmed through formal notifications issued on July 12 by PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan. 

 

The lawmakers Aurangzeb Khan Khichi (NA-159, Vehari IV), Zahoor Elahi (NA-146, Khanewal III), Usman Ali (NA-142, Sahiwal II), Mubarak Zeb (NA-8, Bajaur), and Muhammad Ilyas Chaudhry (NA-62, Gujrat I) were elected on PTI tickets and, according to the party, had pledged to uphold its parliamentary position.

 

“[During] the PTI … parliamentary party meeting held on September 2, 2024 [in] Islamabad, … it was unanimously resolved that [the] PTI parliamentary party will not support the proposed amendments [to] the Constitution and will oppose the bill when it is moved in the National Assembly or is put to voting at any stage,” said the notice.

 

“You voted in favour of the bill and, therefore, you violated the directions and instructions of the PTI parliamentary party [that] were binding on you as a parliamentarian, especially when you had won the election with support of [the] PTI and had taken oath that you would follow instructions of [the] PTI and that you would stand loyal to the party.”

 

Two of the notices, addressed to Khichi and Zeb, noted that they had defected and joined the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N). The remaining three notices highlighted that the recipients were sitting on treasury benches and “attended meetings of that [ruling] party”.

 

The notice added, “Thus, you having voted in favour of the 26th Constitutional (Amendment) Act, 2024, have violated the party’s instructions and directions which were binding on you.”

 

The notice reads that five MNAs have “violated” their “commitment, oath and loyalty to the party”, adding, “You have acted contrary to the instructions of the party … and 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.”

 

The Constitution (Twenty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2024, also referred to as the Constitutional Package, is legislation that sets the Chief Justice of Pakistan’s (CJP) tenure to three years and authorises the prime minister to appoint the next CJP from among the three most senior Supreme Court (SC) judges.

 

The legislation was invoked in October last year when Justice Yahya Afridi, third in the Supreme Court's seniority list (excluding the then chief justice), was appointed as the 30th CJP, bypassing Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, the then most senior judge in the apex court.