The Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously overturned its 2022 ruling related to the defection clause under Article 63-A of the Constitution.
A five-member bench, led by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa and including Justices Naeem Akhtar Afghan, Aminuddin Khan, Jamal Khan Mandokhail, and Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel, heard the plea filed by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) in June 2022.
In its 2022 decision, the court ruled that parliamentarians cannot vote against their party’s policy and that the votes of dissident lawmakers would not be counted.
The verdict was based on a presidential reference seeking interpretation of Article 63-A, which addresses the disqualification of lawmakers for defection. The court stated that “the article in question cannot be interpreted in isolation.”
The 2022 ruling, a 3-2 split decision, barred lawmakers from voting against the party line in four key scenarios: the election of the prime minister and chief minister, votes of confidence or no-confidence, constitutional amendment bills, and money bills.
Following this ruling, the SCBA had requested the court to direct state officials to strictly adhere to the Constitution and law, and to refrain from actions that are unconstitutional or unwarranted.
