An interesting situation arose in Pakistan on Sunday morning when instead of voting on the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan, the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly declared it unconstitutional and rejected it.
Shortly afterwards, Prime Minister Imran Khan recommended the dissolution of the National Assembly to the President of Pakistan, who issued an order to that effect.
The Supreme Court has taken suo motu notice of the whole matter, but PTI leaders have started making statements regarding the upcoming elections and the caretaker setup before that.
Fawad Chaudhry has announced that a letter is being written by the Prime Minister to the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif to form a caretaker government.
Let us know what a caretaker government is, how it is formed and what its scope is.
Assembly dissolution
Under the Pakistani constitution, the upper house, the Senate, cannot be dissolved, while the National Assembly can be dissolved under Article 58 of the constitution.
Prior to the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, the President could have done so directly, but now it can only be done on the advice of the Prime Minister.
Importantly, Prime Minister Imran Khan was facing a no-confidence motion in the National Assembly, which had a constitutional deadline of voting today.
Alleged plot to overthrow the government
Addressing a rally in Islamabad on March 27, Imran Khan had said that his government had been threatened in writing by another country.
When the National Assembly session began on Sunday, Federal Law Minister Fawad Chaudhry drew the Assembly's attention to the issue and demanded that the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly dismiss the no-confidence motion as it was directed at a foreigner.
After that, Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri, while issuing a rolling motion, adjourned the sitting indefinitely and then Prime Minister Imran Khan recommended to the President to dissolve the National Assembly which was accepted by the President.
Establishment of caretaker government
Now it comes to Imran Khan holding new elections and forming a caretaker government.
The caretaker government is governed by Article 224 of the Constitution, which provides that if the Assembly is dissolved under Article 58, the President appoints the caretaker Prime Minister in consultation with the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly. Will
However, this appointment is not the prerogative of the President but comes after the consensus of the Leader of the Opposition and the Prime Minister.
Who is the Prime Minister?
Although the National Assembly has now been dissolved, the Prime Minister is still in office and will remain Prime Minister for the next few days.
He will be prime minister for at least the next three days, and at most the issue could span eight to nine days.
Under Article 224 of the Constitution, if the Assembly is dissolved, the Leader of the Opposition and the Prime Minister will have to agree on a single name by mutual consultation in the dissolved Assembly.
And they only have three days to do that, from the dissolution of the assembly.
Once his name is agreed upon, the President of Pakistan approves the name and Imran Khan will remain the Prime Minister till the caretaker Prime Minister arrives.
What if Imran Khan and Shahbaz Sharif do not agree on a name?
The matter will then go to a parliamentary committee of eight members. But now that the National Assembly has been dissolved, then how will this committee be formed, who will be involved in it, and even if it could not reach a conclusion?
According to Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, an expert on constitutional and parliamentary affairs and president of the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PLDAT), the constitution provides for the committee to be composed entirely of members of the National Assembly as well as members of the Senate. May contain
The committee needs to include four members from the opposition and four from the government, and the speaker of the dissolved assembly will set up the committee.
Under Article 53 of the Constitution, the current Speaker will remain in office until the election of a new Speaker in the new Assembly.
The Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition nominate four members for this committee and then before this committee two names are proposed by the Prime Minister and two names are proposed by the Leader of the Opposition.
The committee then has three days to decide on the matter.
And according to experts, if the committee fails to reach a decision within three days, then the matter goes to the Election Commission, which has to announce the name of the caretaker Prime Minister within two days. ۔
So Imran Khan is the Prime Minister of Pakistan at the moment but experts say that even if the Supreme Court does not declare Sunday's actions unconstitutional, Imran Khan will not be the Prime Minister in eight or nine days from now and Pakistan will be the new general. The election season will be over as the caretaker government will have to hold elections within 90 days.
Who will present the budget?
If a caretaker government is formed in Pakistan, will it also present and approve the next federal budget which has to be presented in the National Assembly in the second week of June?
It should be noted that at present Pakistan has to undertake a number of drastic financial measures under the agreement with the International Monetary Fund and it has been observed that the supplementary budgets which are also commonly referred to as mini-budgets are often approved in the light of new circumstances. have been.
Ahmed Bilal Mehboob says that it is possible for the caretaker government to present a budget for a few months as the purpose of such a government is basically to hold elections but under the constitution the budget has to be presented.
Under Article 86 of the Constitution, if the National Assembly is dissolved, the federal government may approve expenditures for a maximum of four months of the fiscal year.
According to former Attorney General Irfan Qadir, there is no restriction in the constitution in this regard that the caretaker government cannot present the budget because in any case the financial affairs of the state have to continue.
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