ISLAMABAD: A federal or provincial legislator becomes guilty of defection if he or she commits any one of five acts enumerated in the Constitution. These five acts, however, do not include voting against party directives in the Senate elections.
Being guilty of floor crossing entails the disqualification of the deserter as a member of the legislature. A precise procedure has been delineated in the Constitution that must be followed after the concerned party chief finds that a lawmaker has defected. It is a long-drawn-out process in which the Speaker initially plays a key role.
Article 63A of the Constitution lists those acts that amount to defection. The first is when a member of a parliamentary party resigns from its membership. The second act of defection is committed when a lawmaker joins another party. The third category of desertion includes voting or refraining from voting in four particular cases: he will be held guilty if he votes or abstains from voting in the legislature contrary to any direction issued by his parliamentary party in relation to the election of the prime minister or the chief minister; votes contrary to party directives or abstains in a vote of confidence or a vote of no-trust against them; or votes against or abstains during a money bill or a constitutional amendment bill.
These are six kinds of voting or abstentions involving the defection of a lawmaker, in which the party direction to the legislators plays the key role.
The article further states that if a lawmaker commits any of these acts of desertion, he may be declared in writing by the party head to have defected from the political party. Then, the party head forwards a copy of such a declaration to the presiding officer [speaker or chairman] and the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC). A copy will also be forwarded to the concerned legislator.
However, before making such a declaration, the party head will provide such a member with an opportunity to show cause as to why it may not be made against him. The party head means any person, by whatever name called, declared as such by the parliamentary party.
A lawmaker will be deemed to be a member of a parliamentary party if he, having been elected as a candidate or nominee of a political party which constitutes the parliamentary party in the House or, having been elected otherwise than as a candidate or nominee of a political party, has become a member of such a parliamentary party after such election by means of a declaration in writing.
Explaining the procedure to be followed, the article says upon receipt of such a declaration, the presiding officer within two days will refer, and in case he fails to do so, it will be deemed that he has referred the declaration to the CEC who will lay it before the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for its decision, confirming it or otherwise within 30 days of its receipt by the CEC. Where the ECP confirms the declaration, the concerned legislator will cease to be a member and his seat will become vacant.
Any party aggrieved by n ECP decision may, within 30 days, prefer an appeal to the Supreme Court which will decide the matter within 90 days from the date of its filing.
Some political parties are now talking about a ‘conscience vote’ from rival legislators to get their nominees elected in the upcoming Senate polls. A conscience vote or free vote is a type of vote in a legislative body where lawmakers are allowed to vote according to their conscience rather than according to an official line laid down by their political party.
A conscience vote, or voting against the party’s direction for any reason in Pakistan’s context, has historically been an excuse for unethical behaviour and often happens because of a substantial monetary consideration and not due to any principles or parliamentary norms and values.
The views of the political parties on the ‘conscience vote’ keep changing with changing times. In the forthcoming hotly contested Senate polls, the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) hopes to get a ‘conscience vote’ from the National Assembly for its joint candidate former Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani.