First ever Successful Vote of No-Confidence in Parliamentary History in 41st Session of 15th National Assembly

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  1. Key Highlights
  2. Working Hours
  3. Agenda Items Left Over
  4. Quorum
  5. Attendance
  6. Most Vocal MNAs
  7. Legislation

Key Highlights

  1. Tumultuous session witnessed ‘dissolution’ of 15th National Assembly and ‘restoration’ by Supreme Court
  2. 41st session met for 12 sittings and for total time of only 24 hours and 10 minutes
  3. Longest sitting lasted 4 hours and 46 minutes and shortest sitting lasted only 10 minutes; average sitting time observed of 2 hours and 3 minutes per sitting
  4. Outgoing PM Imran Khan did not attend any of the 12 sittings
  5. Average attendance of MNAs recorded as 65.08%
  6. Only 1 Government Bill introduced in 41st session

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. [2]

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.

Working Hours

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 28 minutes 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 by 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.

Agenda Items Left Over

60.80% agenda items on average were left over in 12 sittings of the 41st session. 14 agenda items were left over out of 15 in the sitting held on March 25. The house was adjourned without transacting any business on the demise of Mr. Khial Zaman, sitting member of the National Assembly. In the sitting held on March 28, only 4 agenda items were taken up out of 27 items and leave was granted to move no-confidence resolution against Prime Minister Mr. Imran Khan. Deputy Speaker allotted Thursday, March 31, 2022 for discussion on the above said Resolution but on March 31, out of 24 agenda items, only 1 agenda item was taken up and no discussion was held on vote of no-confidence resolution. This was the shortest sitting of the session which lasted only 10 minutes. On April 3, 5 out of 6 agenda items were left over. The main agenda, i.e., voting on no-confidence resolution was also not taken up as the Deputy Speaker dismissed the resolution and prorogued the session. However, the session resumed on April 9 after the order of the Supreme Court. Only 2 agenda items were taken up out of 6 when the process of division and counting of votes started and the house was adjourned at 11:58 pm to meet minutes after on April 10 when 4 agenda items were left over out of 6 and the voting on no-confidence resolution was completed. On April 11, the house completed the whole agenda (100%) of electing the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Out of 5 agenda items, 2 were left over on April 16 and the house was adjourned to meet on April 18 when only 1 agenda item was left over. The maximum agenda items were left over on April 19 when 203 (98.54%) agenda items were left over out of 206. In the next sitting held on April 20, only 1 agenda item was taken up out of 3 and the house offered Fateha for the departed souls of Mr. Iqbal Muhammad Ali Khan, MNA (NA-240 Korangi Karachi-II), MQMP and women and eight children dying in an incident. In the last sitting of the 41st session, the house completed the whole agenda including election of the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly and oath of the Deputy Speaker-elect.

Quorum

Quorum was not pointed out during the entire 41st session of the 15th National Assembly.

Attendance

Mr. Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, MNA, took oath as Prime Minister of Pakistan on April 11 and attended 2 out of 6 sittings of the National Assembly held on April 11 and April 16. He remained Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly till April 10 and attended all 6 sittings held on March 25, March 28, March 31, April 3, April 9 and April 10. Former Prime Minister, Mr. Imran Khan, MNA, did not attend any sitting of the National Assembly held during the 41st session. On the average, 223 or 65.08% MNAs marked their attendance during the 41st session.

Most Vocal MNAs

Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Hussain Qureshi, MNA, (NA-156 Multan-III, Punjab, PTI) was the most vocal MNA during the 41st session with a recorded talk time of 1 hour and 30 minutes. He remained Federal Minister, Foreign Affairs from August 20, 2018 to April 10, 2022. Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, MNA (NA-132 Lahore-X, Punjab, PML-N) spoke for 1 hour and 19 minute during the session, followed by Khawaja Muhammad Asif, MNA (NA-73 Sialkot-II, Punjab, PML-N) who spoke for 52 minutes during the session. Mr. Asad Mahmood, MNA (NA-37 Tank, KP, MMAP) spoke for 42 minutes and Dr. Shireen M. Mazari, MNA (Reserved Seats for Women, Punjab, PTI), spoke for 38 minutes. She remained Federal Minister, Human Rights from August 20, 2018 to April 10, 2022.

Legislation

Only 1 Government bill was introduced during the whole session i.e. The Constitution (26thAmendment) Bill, 2022. No bill was introduced by Private Members. Also no bill was passed by the National Assembly during the session.

Neither any Ordinance laid nor extended during 41st session of the National Assembly.

References

  1. Nadir Gurmani, “NA speaker dismisses no-trust move against PM Imran, terms it contradictory to Article 5,” Dawn online, April 3, 2022, accessed April 27, 2022. https://www.dawn.com/news/1683067/na-speaker-dismisses-no-trust-move-against-pm-imran-terms-it-contradictory-to-article-5. ↑

  2. “Order of the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Suo Moto Case No. 1 of 2022,” Supreme Court of Pakistan online, April 7, 2022, accessed April 26, 2022. https://www.supremecourt.gov.pk/downloads_judgements/s.m.c._1_2022_07042022.pdf. ↑

  3. Fahad Chaudhry “Imran Khan loses no-trust vote, prime ministerial term comes to unceremonious end,” Dawn online, April 9, 2022, accessed April 27, 2022. https://www.dawn.com/news/1684168. ↑