ISLAMABAD, Nov 21: President of People’s Party Parliamentarians Makhdoom Amin Fahim directed the ten PPP dissenters in writing to vote for the PPP candidate before the ascertainment of the Leader of the House on Thursday.

The party members who had formed a so-called forward bloc, were issued written instructions by the party president to vote for Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi and copies of these letters were sent to the speaker’s office, Raja Pervez Ashraf informed Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain on a point of order before the commencement of election process.

Earlier, the PPP secretary-general, Mian Raza Rabbani in a statement said that the party had already issued notices to three dissenters for violating party discipline.

“They have been asked to seek an interview with the party chairperson within seven days for clarifying their position, failing which action as warranted in the circumstances will be taken,” Raza Rabbani said.

The three dissenters on whom written notices were served on Wednesday were Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat, Rao Sikander Iqbal and Naurez Shakoor.

Syed Khurshid Shah said that they had provided a copy of the letter to the speaker National Assembly for record. He also hinted at taking a legal action against the dissenters.

Regarding the defection clause, he said either the Constitution could be in abeyance or it could be in operation. The Constitution could not be restored partially, he said.