LAHORE, Nov 22: A well-known lawyer, asked by the PPP to draft showcause notices for its nine MNAs who had voted for Mir Zafarullah Jamali, will hand over them to the party leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim on Saturday.

The PPP disciplinary committee will serve the notices on the dissidents, sources told Dawn on Friday.

The lawyer was asked to draft the notices by Raza Rabbani under Article 63-A of the 1973 Constitution.

The PPP leadership has reportedly decided to defer its disciplinary action against one dissident MNA from Sindh because the move may spoil party chances to form government in Sindh.

Through the notices the dissidents would be asked to explain to the PPP disciplinary committee as to why they had voted for the PML-Q candidates for the National Assembly speaker and prime minister in violation of the party policy, instructions, discipline and code of conduct.

They would be given one-week time to furnish their reply either in writing or in person to the PPP secretariat in Islamabad.

If it cancels the party membership of these MNAs, the committee is required under the Constitution to convey its decision to the National Assembly speaker. In turn, the speaker is supposed to forward the intimation to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) within seven days of its receipt for unseating the members and announcing bye-polls on their seats.

However, the sources said, the PPP feared that the decision, if taken, would not be conveyed to the election commission. “We understand that we would have to fight a long court battle to get the constitutional provisions enforced,” they said.