Imran Khan moves Pakistan Supreme Court to ban dissident PTI lawmakers for life
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan (Photo/IANS)
Islamabad: Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has moved the Supreme Court on Thursday seeking disqualification of dissident Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf members of the National Assembly, media reports said.
The petition lists the Election Commission of Pakistan, the Speaker of the National Assembly, the Law Secretary, and the Cabinet Secretary as parties, and has been filed under Article 184(3) of the Constitution � which states that for the apex court to have jurisdiction on a matter, the matter needs to be of public importance and a violation of fundamental rights mentioned in the Constitution, Express Tribune reported.
The petition requested that the dissident PTI members should be disqualified from parliamentary affairs for life and that if any member wants to leave the party they must resign as members of the NA first "instead of committing defection as provided in Article 63-A of the Constitution by changing his loyalty in favour of another political party actuated by hidden motive".
It stated that shifting loyalties meant that the individual was no longer "sadiq and amin (truthful and honest)".
The petition further claimed that the votes cast by dissident PTI members in the no-confidence motion against Imran Khan should not be counted.
"Being an elected representative (it) is constitutionally prohibited and morally reprehensible to refrain from act of defection (against their parliamentary party), and the member cannot claimed a vested right to have his vote counted... and such tainted votes are to be excluded from the vote count," the petition reads, Express Tribune reported.
It stated that there was no reason for the dissident party members to not be banned for life.
"This honourable court has observed in many cases that defection or floor crossing is nothing short of a disease of cancer to the entire body of politics and it destroys the spirit of democratic governance," the petition said, adding that this justified a lifetime ban, the report said.