The Senate is set to vote again on the 27th Constitutional Amendment Bill today after the session begins at 11am, to approve the changes made to the draft earlier approved by the upper house.
A day earlier, the National Assembly passed the amendment bill that seeks to change the judicial structure and military command, with 234 votes in favour and four against amid opposition’s walkout. It included eight amendments — not part of the Senate-approved previous version — aimed at clarifying the chief justice’s position.
The amended bill fine-tunes the structure of the newly established Federal Constitutional Court (FCC), clarifies the titles and ranking of the country’s top judges, and drops several clauses from the Senate-approved draft that had sought to alter oath-related provisions for various constitutional offices.
One of the most significant updates relates to Clause 2, which modifies Article 6(2A) of the Constitution — the article concerning high treason. The National Assembly’s version adds the term “Federal Constitutional Court” after “the”, thereby explicitly including the new court within the ambit of Article 6. The earlier Senate draft had not mentioned the court by name.
The lower house also introduced a fresh Clause 2A to amend Article 10(4), which deals with preventive detention. This revision adds the words “Supreme Court” within the explanatory portion of that article.
Meanwhile, the National Assembly deleted several provisions that had appeared in the Senate’s version. Clauses 4, 19, 51, and 55 — which collectively proposed to modify the wording of oaths administered to a range of constitutional officeholders — were removed from the final text.
Clause 4 had aimed to revise Article 42, under which the president takes the oath of office before the Chief Justice of Pakistan, by substituting the phrase “Chief Justice of Pakistan” with “Chief Justice of the Federal Constitutional Court.”
Likewise, Clause 19 proposed changes to Article 168, which regulates the appointment and oath of the Auditor General of Pakistan. It would have added the term “Supreme Court” before “Chief Justice of Pakistan,” thereby slightly altering the formal oath text.
Clause 51 mirrored this approach for Article 214, which requires the Chief Election Commissioner to take the oath before the Chief Justice. The Senate draft suggested replacing this with “Chief Justice of the Federal Constitutional Court.”
Similarly, Clause 55 sought to amend Article 255(2), which applies in cases where an oath cannot be administered before the designated official. At present, the Chief Justice of Pakistan can nominate another person; the Senate version proposed transferring this authority to the Chief Justice of the Federal Constitutional Court.
All of these oath-related proposals were ultimately omitted by the National Assembly.
Another key modification came in Clause 23, which amends Article 176 to include a proviso specifying that, “notwithstanding anything contained in the Constitution, the incumbent Chief Justice shall continue to be known as the Chief Justice of Pakistan during his term in office.”
A further addition was made under Clause 56, which now defines the “Chief Justice of Pakistan” as “the senior among the Chief Justice of the Federal Constitutional Court and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court,” thereby establishing a formal hierarchy between the two judicial heads.
Highlights of new amendment
- Chief of Army Staff to assume role as Chief of Defence Forces
- Field Marshal, Marshal of Air Force, Admiral of Fleet titles to remain for life
- Incumbent chief justice to remain CJP until completion of current term
- Senior-most among SC CJ and FCC CJ will be designated Chief Justice of Pakistan
- Federal Constitutional Court to be established
- Equal provincial representation approved in Federal Constitutional Court
- FCC empowered to take suo motu notice upon petitions
- President and prime minister to play a key role in judicial appointments
- Presidential immunity limited if president assumes any public office after tenure
- Judicial Commission to decide transfer of high court judges
- Objections on transfers to be reviewed by Supreme Judicial Council
The multi-clause amendment bill required a two-thirds majority in the 336-member House. The ruling coalition easily secured the required votes, with the PML-N holding 125 seats, the PPP 74, the MQM-P 22, the PML-Q four, the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party four, and one seat each held by the PML-Z, the Balochistan Awami Party, and the National Peoples Party.
However, four members from the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), once a close ally of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), were the only lawmakers to register their votes against the amendments.
It may be noted that the government’s legislation secured votes from two opposition lawmakers when the bill was voted upon in the Senate. PTI’s Saifullah Abro and JUI-F’s Ahmed Khan backed the bill, and while Abro announced his resignation as a lawmaker on the same day, Khan was asked by his party to step down for violating party lines.
So it becomes interesting now that the government will be able to pass the legal amendments again in the upper house, given the resignations of the two defectors.
Number game
To understand this, here is the number game in this situation:
PTI’s Abro and JUI-F’s Khan are most likely to again help the ruling coalition ensure two-thirds majority, when the amended piece of legislation is again put to vote today.
In the 96-member House, 64 senators form the two-thirds majority, which is mandatory for a constitutional amendment to be passed by the Senate. PML-N Senator Irfan Siddiqui has passed away, following serious illness that coincided with the passage of the amendment
The Senate chairman cannot exercise his right to vote, whereas three votes from the otherwise opposition party Awami National Party (ANP) were crucial. Again, the ANP is set to support the legislation, besides the two defected senators of the PTI and JUI-F.
PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, when contacted, told The News that Abro has been expelled for violating the party policy by voting in favour of the 27th Amendment.
According to parliamentary sources, the defected party legislator has not submitted his resignation in writing to the Senate Secretariat to be forwarded to the Senate chairman, and more importantly, his name remains part of the Senate website and the same goes for Senator Khan.
Meanwhile, the Senate Secretariat has issued the orders of the day for the November 13 sitting, and it includes the amended key legislation that is listed at No 6.
