ISLAMABAD, Feb 23: The members of National Assembly and provincial assemblies would be free to vote for any candidate of their choice, as they would not be subject to any legal action for violating the party guideline.

Legal experts contend that the anti-defection law, invoked when three conditions are met, does not apply in case of Senate elections.

The relevant article of the Constitution — Article 63 A — which has come into effect from Jan 1, 2003, says that a member can be disqualified if he votes or abstains from voting in the house contrary to any direction issued by the parliamentary party to which he belongs, in relation to: (i) election of the prime minister or the chief minister, or (ii) a vote of confidence or a vote of no confidence; or (iii) a money bill.

All the three situations do not arise in case a member of provincial assembly votes in favour of a candidate of his choice.

The ruling party and its allies, who were not in a comfortable position at the time of national and provincial assembly elections, are devoting all their energies towards getting a maximum number of Senators elected.

The official sources told Dawn that once the Senate elections were complete, the Senators would not be subject to any defection clause, and if they voted in the election of chairman or deputy chairman Senate “to the dictates of their conscience,” no action would be possible against them, as all the three conditions cited in the law concern only the National Assembly.

Under the existing defection law, as amended by the military government through LFO, the head of the party is empowered to declare that an MNA or an MPA has defected because he has voted against the direction in relation to: (i) election of the prime minister or the chief minister, or (ii) in the vote of confidence or a vote of no confidence, or( iii) on a money bill.

Results of the October elections to the National Assembly and provincial assemblies had paved the way for Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) to become the single largest party in the upper house, with the possibility that the opposition parties would be in a position to get their chairman elected.