Mazari seeks ouster of rebellious MNA

PTI chief whip asks Imran to get Gulalai’s assembly seat vacated

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) chief whip in the National Assembly, Shireen Mazari, has formally requested party chief Imran Khan to take necessary measures to get vacated the MNA’s seat of Ayesha Gulalai.

Gulalai, a former PTI leader, had levelled serious allegations of harassment against Khan, citing inappropriate text messages.

Mazari, through a letter, asked Khan that necessary action was required as per constitutional requirement, which called for action against a member who deviated from the party’s policy.



Gulalai had abstained from voting for the PTI’s candidate for the recently held premiership elections following disqualification of Nawaz Sharif.

“Follow-up action according to the Constitution is immediately required to vacate her [Gulalai’s] reserved seat,” Mazari wrote to the party head, adding that Gulalai had failed to give any valid reason behind her move to not vote in favour of the party’s candidate.

“In fact at the time of the voting process, news broke out of her announcement that she was leaving the PTI,” the letter read.

The PTI has already suspended basic party membership of Gulalai.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Mazari said, “Gulalai has already been served a show-cause notice.”

She had been asked to tender her resignation as required under Article 63 of the Constitution of Pakistan, Mazari added.

Mazari said that under the constitutional provision, Gulalai was bound by the party’s decision to vote for the nominated candidate of the leader of the house, but she violated discipline.

Mazari also complained that NA speaker’s approach towards PTI was partial, which she said was evident from Friday’s proceedings of the National Assembly.



According to Article 63, “If any question arises whether a member of Majlis-e-Shoora [parliament] has become disqualified from being a member, the speaker or, as the case may be, the chairman [Senate] shall, unless he decides that no such question has arisen, refer the question to the Election Commission within 30 days and should he fail to do so within the aforesaid period it shall be deemed to have been referred to the Election Commission.

“The Election Commission shall decide the question within 90 days from its receipt or deemed to have been received and if it is of the opinion that the member has become disqualified, he shall cease to be a member and his seat shall become vacant.”