What is the mechanism of No-Confidence Motion?
Following is the procedure of convening session of the National Assembly after the motion of no-confidence has been submitted.
A motion to convene a sitting of the House with the signatures of 20% or 68 members of the National Assembly is submitted for a vote of No-Confidence against the Prime Minister.
A No-Confidence motion against PM Imran Khan has been submitted by the United Opposition in the National Assembly Secretariat yesterday with the jointly signatures of 86 members of PML-N, PPP, ANP and JUI-F.
According to Article 54 of the Constitution, upon the requisition of the opposition, the Speaker is bound to convene a meeting of the National Assembly within 14 days. However, the Speaker may convene this session at any time.
After convening the meeting, the Secretary National Assembly will send the notice to the members and the No-Confidence motion will be tabled the next day (on working day). However, on the death of any member of the National Assembly, the first day’s session may be adjourned without proceeding.
It must be voted on within 3 to 7 days of convening a session of the National Assembly and presenting a No-Confidence motion, but not before 3 days and after 7 days.
The No-Confidence motion against the Prime Minister is voted on by “Open Vote System” and according to the constitution, Speaker of the National Assembly can convene this meeting anytime and anywhere, for which the meeting does not have to be held in the National Assembly Hall.
During the No-Confidence motion, doors of the hall are closed after the presence of all the members in the assembly and the members who support the No-Confidence motion can go out from one door and the opponents can go out from the other door after voting.
To make the No-Confidence motion successful, it needs the support of 172 out of 342 members of the National Assembly, and the government currently has 179 members, including allies, while the opposition has 162 members.
PTI 155, PML-Q 5, MQM 7, GDA 3, Awami Muslim League 1, Balochistan Awami Party 5 and Shah Zain Bugti has 1 seat. The largest opposition party is PML-N, which has 84 members, while the PPP has 56, MMA 15, BNP 4 and ANP has only one. Four independent members are also part of the National Assembly.
