A petition filed in the Lahore High Court (LHC) challenged the election of Prime Minister Imran Khan on the ground that every single member of the National Assembly was required to cast his/her vote but 69 votes were not cast.
Advocate Sheikh Zaid Mahmood, a local lawyer, moved the petition on Wednesday through senior lawyer AK Dogar maintaining that it was mandatory under the Clause 91(4) of the Constitution that every member of the National Assembly (NA) must cast his vote to the person nominated for the election of prime minister.
The petitioner said two parliamentary parties consisting of 69 votes preferred to sit in the NA but abstained from voting. Both Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Jamat-e-Islami (JI) failed to participate in the process of the forming of the federal government. The chosen representatives of the people cannot abstain themselves from casting the votes, he said. The petitioner said it was their constitutional duty to exercise their right to vote. The petitioner also made PPP and JI as respondents in the petition, saying that neither they said “yes” nor they said “no” which was constitutionally not allowed.
He asked the court to declare that every member of the National Assembly (NA) must fulfill the constitutional duty to elect the leader of the house and chief executive of the country. He further requested the LHC to declare that Imran Khan, the incumbent prime minister, was elected unconstitutionally due to the absence of the votes of the total membership of the NA.
