Does govt have required numbers for constitutional amendment?

ISLAMABAD: The government intends to amend the Constitution but the question is: does it have the required numbers for an amendment?

The government needs 224 votes in National Assembly (NA) and 64 in the Senate to pass its constitutional amendment, Geo News reported on Saturday.

Currently, the treasury benches have 211 members against the opposition’s 101 MNAs, meaning that the government needs 13 more votes to pass the said constitutional amendment.

The ruling coalition comprises the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) 110, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) 68, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQMP) 22, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PMLQ) four, Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) (four), Pakistan Muslim League-Zia (PMLZ) one and Awami National Party (ANP) one.

Meanwhile, the opposition comprises 80 MNAs of Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), which are supported by the PTI-backed independent lawmakers.

The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) has eight members in the NA, whereas Balochistan National Party, Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) and Majlis-e-Wahdat-Muslimeen (MWM) have one MNA each in the NA.

Apart from the NA, the ruling benches of the Senate comprise PPP (24), PMLN (19), Balochistan Awami Party (4) and MQM (3) in addition to four independent senators.

The total strength of ruling benches stands at 54 as the government is short of nine votes in the Senate to pass the constitutional amendment.

As for the opposition benches in the Senate, PTI holds 17 seats, JUI-F (5) and ANP (3), while SIC, MWM, Balochistan National Party, National Party and PML-Q have one seat each.

In addition to this, there is an independent senator as well on the opposition benches with the total number of opposition senators standing at 31.

Responding to the government’s claims on achieving the required numbers, PTI’s Salman Akram Raja has said PM Shehbaz’s administration would complete the numbers only through coercion.

A day earlier, JUI-F stopped its Senate members from any kind of voting on the proposed constitutional amendment. In a letter to the members, JUI-F parliamentary leader Kamran Murtaza said that nothing is clear regarding the constitutional amendment. Therefore, no voting should be done until the written decision of the party leadership is there.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz decided to take the parliamentary party into confidence over the said matter. The development comes as PM Shehbaz’s administration is likely to introduce a “constitutional amendment” in the NA on increasing the retirement age of superior courts’ judges — a move vehemently opposed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

The prospects of the said constitutional amendment come amid rumours and speculations revolving around Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa’s extension after the Imran Khan-founded party sought an early issuance of notification on the next top judge last month.

The CJP, issuing a clarification of his recent “off the record” conversation with journalists, has said that he would not accept any “individual specific” proposal on fixing the tenure of country’s top judge. The key aspect of the constitutional amendment is that unlike any other legislation, the government will need to secure a two-thirds majority in parliament to successfully execute it.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has said the required number has already been achieved in the NA. This was also confirmed by the government’s Spokesperson on Legal Affairs Barrister Aqeel Malik while speaking on Geo News programme “Naya Pakistan”.

In the NA, the ruling coalition needs 224 votes to pass the constitutional amendment, whereas, in the Senate the number stands at 64.