Speaker postpones Punjab Assembly session until Friday as trust vote is the focus

Tuesday saw a worsening of the political upheaval and constitutional crisis in Punjab, thus Speaker of the Provincial Assembly Sibtain Khan overruled Governor Baligh-ur-decree Rehman's and called an adjournment of the current session till Friday.

A no-confidence resolution against Chief Minister Parvez Elahi was submitted by parliamentarians from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and the Punjab governor called the provincial assembly's session on Wednesday, December 21, a day earlier.

"The governor Punjab is pleased to sign order summoning the provincial assembly of Punjab at 1600 hours (4pm) on Wednesday and requiring the chief minister of Punjab to obtain a vote of confidence in accordance with Article 130(7) of the Constitution," reads a notification from the Punjab Governor's Secretariat.

According to Speaker Sibtain Khan's decision, a three-member bench of the Lahore High Court in the Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo v. Federation of Pakistan case, the governor cannot call a new session until and unless the current session is prorogued.

According to Article 130(7) of the Constitution, which gives the governor the power to call a session for a vote of confidence, the session can "be determined only in a session which is particularly summoned for this reason," the speaker continued.

Khan further said that the governor cannot call for a vote of confidence under Article 130(7) while the present session is still in session and that such a session can only be called after the speaker has prorogued the current session.

The speaker further stated that the chief minister should be given "not less than 10 days" to secure the vote of confidence in accordance with the LHC's directive. According to procedure, that is the bare minimum of time that must be given to the chief minister.

He added that the governor lacks the authority to call the meeting where the chief minister must win a vote of confidence.

According to Rule 209-A of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab's 1997 Rules of Procedure, the undersigned "gives ruling that the order of governor requiring chief minister to take vote of confidence, being not in accordance with aforesaid provisions of the Constitution and Rules of Procedure, may not be processed any further; therefore, disposed of accordingly" in light of the aforementioned.

In a chat with journalists earlier in the day, Khan had referred to the governor's order as "controversial" and argued that he could not call another session while one is still in session.

Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan, the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister, responded that the speaker should carry out the governor's directive and that it is the chief minister's duty to see that the vote of confidence is taken.

"It will appear that the chief minister has lost the majority if he refuses to take the vote of confidence. Why not show the house that the chief minister has the support of 186 members?"

Ahmad claimed that he wouldn't have accepted the speaker's decision if he had the backing of enough lawmakers. The chief minister should cast the vote of confidence because the meeting is still in session.