ISLAMABAD, Feb 16: Splinter group of the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP), that identifies itself as PPP-Patriots, has been registered with the Election Commission as a new political party, an official of the commission confirmed.

When contacted, the official verified the statement attributed to a federal minister by official media that the PPP-Patriots was registered as a separate political party.

The splinter group was registered after its formation, he said, adding that the commission had recognised them as a separate political party after they met all the requirements prescribed under the Political Parties Order 2002.

Asked if the anti-defection law would be applicable or not to them as all of them were either elected on the PPP ticket or joined it after becoming MNAs or MPAs, the official said that it was not in his domain.

The PPP-Patriots led by Rao Sikandar Iqbal had supported the PML-Q nominee for the prime ministership, against the party’s guideline and got a major share in the cabinet for changing their loyalties.

The PPP led by Makhdoom Amin Fahim has not so far initiated any action against the defectors. The patriots had defied the party line when anti-defection provisions of the Constitution were held in abeyance.

To trap the defectors, legal wizards of the PPP are considering the option of moving a resolution under Article 95 of the Constitution to create a situation for the patriots to clearly come out in the open or withdraw their support from the Jamali government that depends on their votes for its existence.

A majority of the defectors were elected on the parliamentarians ticket. The anti-defection law, which remained in abeyance since the Constitution was partially revived in November, became effective from Jan 1, 2002.

The law states that it applies to parliament or provincial assembly members in three eventualities: when they vote or abstain from voting contrary to a direction issued by their parliamentary party in the election of the Prime Minister or the Chief Minister, or in a confidence or a no-confidence, or on a money bill.

An official of the PPP told Dawn that the proposal to table a vote of no-confidence was still being discussed, but the MMA was not supporting it at the moment as it wanted its man, Professor Ghafoor, elected as a senator from Islamabad with the PML-Q support.

The option of tabling the vote of no-trust is being explored to overcome the argument of the government’s camp that those who had left their party when Article 63A was in abeyance would not be exposed to the vagaries of the defection law.

The government side is thinking that till the next budget session, when the defectors would again be asked to vote for a money bill, they would have smooth sailing.