Govt to approach Supreme Court to seek clarity on Article 63(A): Fawad Chaudhry

• Fawad Chaudhry says SC will be requested to hear case daily.
• PM Imran Khan says will take decisions to curb horse-trading.
• He rules out "minus one"policy to save PTI govt.

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has decided to approach the Supreme Court for interpretation of Article 63-A as several PTI lawmakers have announced to vote on the no-trust motion, in a violation of the party policy, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said Friday.

The decision was taken during a consultative meeting of the PTI’s political committee held today with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the chair.

The meeting was convened to discuss the legal options available to act against the disgruntled lawmakers and counter the Opposition’s move to dislodge the government of Imran Khan.

It came to light Thursday that around 24 PTI MNAs were residing at the Sindh House in Islamabad — and some of them had publicly announced to go against the party.

Hours later, the prime minister called a meeting of the senior party leadership and directed National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser to approach the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) against the disgruntled members.

In a series of tweets today, Fawad Chaudhry said the government would file a petition under Article 186 of the Constitution to seek the interpretation of Article 63-A.

"... we will seek the Supreme Court's interpretation as to what will be the standing of a party member's vote who is found in violation of the party's policy and is involved in horsetrading," the federal minister said.

The information minister said the government would seek the apex court's guidance on whether a person, who shifts loyalty for monetary benefit, should be ineligible for a lifetime for becoming a lawmaker or whether they could contest polls again and be elected to parliament.

"The Supreme Court will be requested to hear the case on a daily basis," he said.

The prime minister, according to sources, assigned the responsibility for filing the reference in the apex court to PTI Additional Secretary Amir Mahmood Kiani and Adviser to Prime Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan.

"We will take such decisions that no one will be able to indulge in horsetrading next  time," the prime minister told the participants.

The premier also directed the PTI leaders present in the meeting to ramp up the preparations for the March 27 rally — where the ruling party plans on gathering one million people, a day before the voting on the no-trust motion.

"All the lawmakers and party members should participate," he said.

"No matter how much money they spend to remove me, I will fight them," he said.

'Will not impose governor's rule in Sindh'

Moreover, the prime minister, according to sources, decided against taking extreme measures and announced that the federal government will not impose the governor's rule in Sindh.

'We will not impose governor's rule in Sindh," he said.

Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed had a day earlier proposed the premier take the step in order to stop "horsetrading" taking place at the Sindh House.

During the meeting, the majority of the participants opposed the move after the interior minister presented a summary in this regard.

"Only two federal ministers backed the idea," sources said.

The PM, however, directed to deliberate further on the issue, saying the situation will deteriorate further by imposing the governor's rule.

'No minus one'

PM Imran Khan also said that some people were talking about a "minus one" policy.

"This cannot happen in any scenario."

"Fortunately, they are requesting [...] this will boost our morale," he said, after MQM-P and PML-Q proposed a "minus Imran Khan" formula in a bid to save the PTI-led government.