Overview of 41^st Session of The National Assembly

The tumultuous 41st session of the 15th National Assembly of Pakistan which began on March 25 and ended on April 21 witnessed the first-ever successful Vote of No-Confidence in Pakistan’s parliamentary history through which Mr. Imran Khan, MNA (NA-95 Mianwali-I, Punjab, PTI) lost the confidence of the house by 174 votes an hour past midnight on Sunday, April 10. Only two previous Prime Ministers have faced votes of no confidence against them in National Assembly’s history: Ms. Benazir Bhutto in 1989 and Mr. Shaukat Aziz in 2006 and both survived as the votes of no confidence against them were unsuccessful. Mr. Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, MNA (NA-132 Lahore-X, Punjab, PML-N) was elected as Prime Minister on April 11 as Prime Minister by securing 174 votes.

The no-confidence motion which was submitted against Prime Minister Imran Khan on March 8 by the nine-party opposition alliance of PDM and PPP was dismissed on April 3 by Deputy Speaker Mr. Qasim Suri (NA-265 Quetta-II, Balochistan, PTI) through a ruling terming the no-confidence motion to be against Article 5 of the Constitution. 1 Following the dismissal of the resolution, Prime Minister advised the President to dissolve the 15th National Assembly. The ruling of the Deputy Speaker, however was set aside by the order of the Supreme Court on April 7 which also ordered that Prime Minister’s advice to the President to dissolve the Assembly was also contrary to the Constitution and of no legal effect.

While the requisition to call a session of the National Assembly was submitted by the opposition parties on March 8 and the Speaker was bound to call the session within 14 days as per Article 54 (3) of the Constitution, or March 21. the session was summoned on March 25 as the Assembly hall was busy due to the conference of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The Opposition parties slammed the National Assembly Speaker for violating the Constitution and termed it delaying tactics to postpone the process of vote of no-confidence.

The 15th National Assembly of Pakistan held 12 sittings in 41st session held on March 25, March 28, March 31, April 3, April 9, April 10, April 11, April 16, April 18, April 19, April 20 and April 21.

However, in nearly a month-long session, the National Assembly only met for 24 hours and 10 minutes with an average time of 2 hours and 3 minutes per sitting. The average delay in starting a sitting was 38 minutes per sitting.

The 41st session of the National Assembly began on Friday, March 25 at the end of the working week and the House was called to meet at 11 am. The first sitting, however, could only begin with a delay of 18 minutes and lasted only for 15 minutes before it was adjourned. No sitting was held over the Saturday and Sunday weekend. The next sitting held on Monday, March 28 was called to meet at 4 pm at the end of the working day and started with a delay of 57 minutes and lasted for 19 minutes as the longest sitting of the session. No sitting was held on Tuesday and Wednesday. The sitting held on Thursday, March 31 was again called to meet at 4 pm though it started with a delay of 1 hour and 15 minutes and lasted for only 10 minutes as the shortest sitting of the session. No sitting was held on Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, April 3 the House was called to meet at 11:30 am but started with a delay of 40 minutes. Instead of voting for no-confidence resolution as per Orders of the Day, the Deputy Speaker dismissed the resolution.

The next sitting was held on Saturday, April 9 after the setting aside of the Deputy Speaker’s ruling by Supreme Court which started on time at 10:30 am. However, unusual delaying tactics were on display as the sitting continued for 13 hours and 28minutes in which house was adjourned for several breaks for the total duration of 9 hours and 4 minutes. This sitting lasted for 4 hours and 4 minutes. 15 minutes before midnight, Speaker National Assembly Mr. Asad Qaiser (NA-18 Swabi-I, KP, PTI) resigned from his post, saying he could not take part in a foreign conspiracy to oust Prime Minister 3 and it was only at 11:57 pm that the process of division and recording of votes was started by Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, MNA (NA-129 Lahore-VII, Punjab, PML-N) who was nominated as one of the members of panel of chairpersons to chair the 41st session on March 25. At 11.58 pm, soon after the commencement of voting, chairperson adjourned the proceedings of for the National Assembly to meet again on Sunday, April 10 at 12.02 am. The sitting started on time and lasted for 2 hours and 3 minutes. At 12:58 am, the Chairperson announced the result that 174 Members have recorded their votes in favour of the resolution and consequently, the Resolution for vote of No-confidence against Mr. Imran Khan, the Prime Minister of Islamic Republic of Pakistan has passed by the majority of the total membership of the National Assembly. The sitting was adjourned at 2:05 am.

The next sitting held on Monday, April 11 was called to meet at 2:00 pm but it started with a delay of 1 hour and 14 minutes. At the beginning of the sitting, Deputy Speaker made an observation that he had given his April 3 ruling with the belief that the resolution of vote of no confidence against Mr. Imran Khan was brought in as a result of a foreign conspiracy. He gave the floor to Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Hussain Qureshi, MNA (NA-156 Multan-III, Punjab, PTI) who announced that PTI MNAs are resigning from the National Assembly. Again, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq was asked by the Deputy Speaker to chair the sitting. At 4:06 pm the process of voting for the election of Prime Minister started and at 5:02 pm, chairperson announced the results. declaring that Mr. Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has secured 174 votes and Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Hussain Qureshi has not secured any vote and consequently, Mr. Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has been elected as Prime Minister of Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The sitting lasted 2 hours and 52 minutes before it was adjourned at 6:06 pm.

No sitting of the National Assembly was held for 4 consecutive days of April 12-15. On Saturday, April 16, the sitting was called to meet at 12:00 noon but could only start with a delay of 36 minutes and lasted for 4 hours and 46 minutes as the longest sitting of the 41st session. According to the order of the day, the house was to move a resolution to remove Deputy Speaker Mr. Qasim Suri though he tendered his resignation on April 16 from the post. Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, MNA (NA-58 Rawalpindi-II, Punjab, PPPP) being the only one valid nominated member for the election of the Speaker was elected, un-contested as Speaker of the National Assembly.

Again, no sitting was held on Sunday and the house was called to meet again at 12:00 noon on Monday, April 18 but the sitting started with a delay of 1 hour and 7 minutes. The sitting lasted 3 hours and 39 minutes before it was adjourned. The next sitting was held on Tuesday, April 19 to meet at 2:00 pm but again could only start with a delay of 27 minutes. This sitting lasted 2 hours and 11 minutes leaving 98.54% agenda items, as the maximum left over during the 41st the session, before it was adjourned. On Wednesday, April 20 the house was called to meet at 2:00 pm but the sitting started with a delay of 47 minutes and lasted 1 hour and 11 minutes. The last sitting of the session was called to meet at 11 am but could start with a delay of 19 minutes. Mr. Zahid Akram Durrani, MNA (NA-35 Bannu, KP, MMAP) being the only valid candidate for the election of the Deputy Speaker was declared to have been elected as Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly. The session was prorogued after a sitting of 2 hours and 25 minutes.