MNAs can't be stopped from going to assembly: PML-Q leader

• Tariq Basheer Cheema counters Fawad's statement that NA Speaker will not count votes of PTI MNAs who have crossed the aisle.
• Says parliamentarians have constitutional right to go to House without any hindrance.
• Says ministers' advice put PM Imran Khan in a difficult situation.

ISLAMABAD: PML-Q Secretary-General Tariq Basheer Cheema on Thursday said that no one can prevent MNAs from going to the House since the constitution gives the parliamentarians a right for it.

The PML-Q leader, who is also a federal minister, made the statement while speaking in Geo News programme Capital Talk in reaction to federal minister Fawad Chaudhry's recent remarks in this regard.

"The speaker will not count the votes of the members of the national assembly, from the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-Insaf (PTI), who have crossed the aisle", was what Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad said in a conversation with a private channel on Wednesday.

However, Cheema countered the statement, saying that the parliamentarians have the constitutional right to go to the House without any hindrance.

Read more: Can the speaker bar PTI MNAs from voting against party lines?

He said that the ministers who had advised Prime Minister Imran Khan in this regard should have not done so as it has put the premier in a difficult situation.

Talking to the channel, Fawad had said that if the speaker sees that an MNA has left the party, then the speaker will not include that vote in the final vote of no confidence against PM Imran Khan.

The minister had cited Article 63A (1) (a) of the constitution to back his claim.

“The speaker can right away send a reference to the election commission against them. So, the opposition is under a misconception,” he had added.