• Saifullah Abro had voted for 27th Amendment, in violation of party line
• No action yet against JUI-F Senator Ahmed Khan, who did the same

ISLAMABAD: The PTI on Thursday submitted a reference to the Senate chairperson seeking the disqualification of Senator Saifullah Abro for defecting from the party line and voting in favour of the 27th Constitutional Amendment.

PTI Senator Ali Zafar shared the development on his X account, stating: “Saifullah Abro went against the party line by voting in favour of the 27th Constitutional Amendment, for which a reference seeking his disqualification has been filed.”

The reference, moved by Senator Zafar, invoked Article 63-A of the Constitution, which deals with disqualification on grounds of defection.

“The declaration is being submitted for onward reference to the chief election commissioner for laying the same before the election commission in accordance with Article 63-A,” the reference, dated Jan 1 and seen by Dawn, read.

It added that a PTI meeting was convened before the vote on the 27th Amendment, during which it was “explicitly decided and communicated to all PTI senators in writing” that they were to oppose and not vote in favour of any legislative measure or bill relating to the amendment.

The reference further stated that Senator Zafar had also issued written directions to all PTI senators, including Senator Abro, to oppose the amendment. “The record confirms that this direction was properly conveyed to him and that he was fully aware of it,” it added.

However, Senator Abro voted in favour of the legislation on Nov 10, 2025, when the Senate first voted on the amendment, and again on Nov 13, 2025, when the House considered it for a second time after certain changes were made, the reference said.

The reference stated that a show-cause notice dated Dec 2, 2025, was issued to Senator Abro and subsequently “received at his residential/official mailing addresses [in] Larkana and Islamabad, affording him full and adequate opportunity to show cause as to why a declaration may not be made against him in terms of Article 63-A”.

It added that the show-cause notice was issued in compliance with the requirements of Article 63-A, but no reply or explanation was received from Senator Abro.

By voting against the PTI’s direction, Senator Abro “committed a deliberate and wilful breach of party discipline”, the reference said.

After considering the facts, the PTI and its parliamentary leadership in the Senate concluded that Senator Abro’s conduct was “contrary to the direction issued by the PTI parliamentary party, which constitutes defection from the PTI”.

“Senator Saifullah Abro is, therefore, declared to have defected from the PTI in terms of Article 63-A,” it said.

The PTI requested the Senate chairperson to refer the declaration to the chief election commissioner “for laying it before the Election Commission of Pakistan [ECP] for [a] decision in terms of Article 63-A”.

“We are sure that the [Senate] chairperson is not going to forward this reference to the ECP. So we are also filing a reference [directly] with the ECP,” PTI Senator Aon Abbas Buppi told Dawn.

JUI-F senator

Apart from Senator Abro, JUI-F Senator Ahmed Khan also voted in favour of the 27th Amendment against his party line on Nov 10.

Following the vote, the JUI-F expelled Mr Khan from the party.

It said Mr Khan had been asked to resign from his Senate seat and warned that if he failed to do so, it would approach the ECP for his disqualification. When asked about this after Thursday’s developments, JUI-F Senator Kamran Murtaza told Dawn that the matter was still under consideration.

“The issue is that if we file a reference with the Senate chairperson to de-seat Ahmed Khan from the upper house, there is a strong chance that he will not take up our case and will delay it. This would degrade our party’s position,” he said.

He added that if the Senate chairman would refer the reference to the ECP, “a seat which is still in our name on paper would go to the PPP or the PML-N”. “We do not want to give undue benefit to the PPP or the PML-N this way.”

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2026