KARACHI: The Sindh chapter of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has announced that it is going to initiate disqualification process against the four PTI members of the provincial assembly for violating the party policy by voting for the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) candidate, Nisar Khuhro, in the recent election for a Senate seat.

The announcement was made by Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh and PTI’s parliamentary party leader in the assembly Khurram Sherzaman while talking to reporters at the Sindh Assembly building on Thursday.

They said that despite a consensus decision taken by all opposition parties in the house to boycott the polling, these four MPAs cast their vote. They not only violated the decision, but also voted against the candidate nominated by the joint opposition.

“The PTI will expel these MPAs from the party and will also initiate legal proceedings for their disqualification under Article 63-A of the Constitution,” said Mr Sheikh.

“It is in the knowledge of the Sindh Assembly Speaker that who are the PTI members who voted for its rival candidate. I am under obligation to take action against the four MPAs as per the relevant constitutional provisions,” he said.

Keeping its tradition alive, the PPP has once again breached the democratic norms by indulging in horse trading, he said, and remarked that “the Speaker should be ashamed of whatever took place in the august house”.

In the Wednesday polling for the Senate seat that had fallen vacant after PTI’s Faisal Vawda was disqualified last month, a total of 101 votes were polled. PPP’s Nisar Khuhro secured 99 out of the 101 votes cast whereas two votes were rejected.

Two PPP lawmakers could not take part in the polling as they were abroad. Four legislators of the PTI cast their votes defying their party’s decision to stay away from the polling.

They were Sachanand Sachal, Karim Bakhsh Gabol, Aslam Abro and Shahar Yar Khan Shar.

Their act drew a strong reaction from their party in a situation where PTI is facing a serious challenge at the Centre amid the joint opposition’s move to submit a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan in the National Assembly.

The PTI leaders warned that whoever defied the party policy and sacrificed its ideology for vested interests would face the consequences.

“We have submitted a resolution in the Sindh Assembly secretariat to condemn the practice of horse trading resorted to by the PPP,” said PTI parliamentary leader Khurram Sherzaman.

“All the four PTI MPAs were bribed by Asif Zardari,” he alleged, and said these members could also face disqualification in line with the Article 63 of the Constitution.

He claimed that Rs40m to Rs50m were given to each of the four PTI lawmakers.

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2022