ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Sunday ousted its five lawmakers in the National Assembly, accusing them of violating the party’s stance by voting in favour of the 26th Constitutional Amendment.
According to an official notification issued by PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, the party has terminated the basic membership of MNAs Aurangzeb Khan Khichi (NA-159, Vehari IV), Muhammad Ilyas Chaudhry (NA-62, Gujrat I), Mubarak Zeb, Usman Ali (NA-142, Sahiwal II), and Zahoor Hussain Qureshi (NA-146, Khanewal III).
PTI’s Central Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram also shared the termination notice on X, confirming the disciplinary action.
Sources said the lawmakers were accused of violating the party’s official policy during the National Assembly vote on the 26th Amendment, which was passed in October last year by both the National Assembly and the Senate.
In the declaration separately issued to the lawmakers, the former ruling party stated that the lawmakers had returned to the National Assembly from different constituencies with the support of and as a nominee of the PTI in the February 8 general polls last year.
They took their seats on the opposition benches as part of the PTI’s parliamentary party, with the oaths to stay loyal to the PTI, it added.
Addressing Khichi, it censured that the MNA had joined the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) parliamentary party and took up the office of Federal Minister [for National Heritage and Culture Division] and “hence liable to disqualification as well”.
The judiciary-oriented constitutional package proposed a set of constitutional amendments, including provisioning a fixed three-year term of the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP).
The constitutional amendment had sailed through both houses in October last year amid the opposition’s protests which it called an attempt to suppress the judiciary.
President Asif Ali Zardari had signed the 26th Constitutional Amendment Bill into law upon the advice of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif following the approval of the said legislation by the parliament.
It also paved the way for the formation of a new constitutional bench.
The treasury benches, comprising 211 seats, required 224 votes in the NA. However, their numbers rose to 219 following the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl’s (JUI-F) support.
The amendments were passed after the PTI-backed independent lawmakers including Zahoor, Aurangzeb Khichi, Usman Ali, and Mubarak Zeb voted in favour of the motion along with the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid’s (PML-Q) Chaudhry Ilyas.
