LAHORE:
Chaudhry Zaheeruddin, the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) parliamentary leader, has vowed to move the Lahore High Court to seek the disqualification of Unification Bloc members for voting against their party on the Finance Bill 2011 in the Punjab Assembly on Thursday.
Backed by the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party and the Unification Bloc of PML-Q dissidents, the government was able to pass the bill comfortably by a voice vote, thus completing the budget approval process.
The Annual Budget Statement, which together with the Finance Bill constitutes the Money Bill, was passed on Wednesday.
Finance Minister Kamran Michael presented the Finance Bill at the start of the session, which began an hour late. The speaker put it up for approval, and the treasury benches, the PPP and the Unification Bloc supported it. A day earlier, the PPP had abstained from voting on the Annual Budget Statement.
Zaheeruddin objected and said the Unification Bloc members who voted for the bill should be disqualified. PML-Q MPAs Seemal Kamran and Dr Samia Amjad stood at their seats and pointed at Unification Bloc members that they said they had seen support the bill.
Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rana Sanaullah responded that objecting after the bill was approved was pointless.
Zaheeruddin rejected Sanaullah’s argument, saying his party had been trying to raise the matter on a point of order from the onset of proceedings, but the speaker had ignored their requests. He said that the Unification Bloc dissidents should be disqualified under Article 63(a) and he would submit a reference against them.
The speaker interrupted to point out that Zaheeruddin had already sent references against nine Unification Bloc members to the speaker. “You have moved the chief election commissioner (CEC) against nine Unification Bloc members so the matter is now sub judice. We should all avoid speaking on this issue,” Iqbal said.
Zaheeruddin was not moved. He said the speaker had failed to deliver justice against the dissidents and now he would move the Lahore High Court against the Unification Bloc.
Leader of the Opposition Raja Riaz said that he did not believe that the courts would be able to help Zaheeruddin because of ambiguities in the law on floor crossing.
Mian Atta Maneka, a senior member of the Unification Bloc, thanked the speaker for accepting that the bloc made up a majority of PML-Q members in the house and for allotting them separate seats.
Sanaullah said that the PPP had decided to support the PML-Nawaz government’s budget because it had realised when it imposed governor’s rule that it would not be able to form a government in the province.
He said that when Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf had split the PML to create the ‘Lota League’, his party had resolved to “bring back the turncoats”. He said that the PML-Q would soon be left with just the Chaudhrys of Gujrat and three women legislators. The rest, including Zaheeruddin, would return to the PML-N fold.
Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was in the house but did not speak.
The Lahore Ring Road Authority Bill 2011 and Punjab Food Authority Bill 2011 were also approved on Thursday.
When floor-crossing is illegal
According to Article 63(a) of the Constitution, a legislator is liable for disqualification if he or she votes differently to their parliamentary leader in the election of a chief minister or prime minister, in a vote of confidence or no-confidence in the chief minister or prime minister, or on a money bill. A parliamentary party leader who wants a party member disqualified must send a reference to the speaker, who then decides whether to forward it to the chief election commissioner (CEC). The article does not state what recourse the mover has if the speaker decides not to forward the reference to the CEC. Changes to this procedure will come into effect under the 18th Amendment after the next general elections whereby the parliamentary party leader will be able to approach the CEC directly.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 24th, 2011.
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