ISLAMABAD, APR 24: Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said on Monday that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had not decided to seek a vote of confidence from Parliament.
The minister’s tweet came after several media outlets, citing sources, reported that the premier had decided to take a vote of confidence from the National Assembly.
In a tweet, Aurangzeb said that no consultation had taken place on the topic, adding that there was no need for it.
“The unanimous candidate of the people, the party [and] the coalition parties, Shehbaz Sharif, had taken a vote for being the leader of House in the National Assembly on April 11, 2022,” she said, referring to the date the PML-N president was elected prime minister.
The information minister said that any reports to the contrary were fabricated rumours and not a fact. She urged the media to refrain from reporting things concerning the premier without first verifying them.
The statement comes days after the National Assembly, perhaps for the first time in the country’s parliamentary history, rejected a money bill that the government had tabled to seek funds for conducting polls in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — where the provincial assemblies have been dissolved — in line with directives issued by the top court.
On April 13, the NA rejected the Charged Sums for General Election (Provincial Assemblies of the Punjab and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) Bill 2023 with a majority vote after Finance Minister Ishaq Dar informed the house that the standing committee had recommended not to approve the bill he introduced on April 10.
Subsequently, the Supreme Court on April 19, while declaring the defence ministry’s plea to hold general elections across Pakistan simultaneously inadmissible, had stated that the premier must hold the majority in the lower house of Parliament at all times.
“In terms of the system of parliamentary democracy envisaged by the Constitution, the government of the day must command the confidence of the majority of the NA at all times,” the court order had said. It had added that since the office of the prime minister had primacy, the premier “must enjoy the confidence of the majority of the NA at all times.”
“It follows from the foregoing (and this is an important constitutional convention) that the government of the day must be able to secure the passage of all financial measures that it submits before the NA. This would be certainly true for a financial measure of constitutional importance.”
The order had said that when viewed from this perspective, the NA’s rejection of the demand to release poll funds held “serious constitutional implications”.
