180 MNAs repose trust in PM Shehbaz Sharif

180 MNAs repose trust in PM Shehbaz Sharif. The National Assembly Thursday reposed “complete” confidence in Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s leadership as the government remains embattled over the polls with the Supreme Court.

Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, the chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party and the foreign minister, tabled the resolution, on which 180 Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) voted yes, as opposed to 174 when Shehbaz was elected as the prime minister in April last year.

The prime minister took the vote of confidence after the assembly rejected the money bill tabled by the government for providing funds to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for holding polls in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — on the orders of the Supreme Court.

When the bill was rejected, apparently for the first time in history, the top court — hearing a petition seeking polls simultaneously — implied that the prime minister did not have the confidence of the house.

In its order, the SC stated: “In terms of the system of parliamentary democracy envisaged by the Constitution, the [prime minister] must enjoy the confidence of the majority of the NA at all times.”

Former prime minister Imran Khan also won a vote of confidence — securing 178 votes, six more than required to maintain the majority — from the lower house on March 6, 2021. A special session of the NA was called after the former ruling party — Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) — faced an upset in the Senate elections.

Read more: ECP informs SC about non-provision of funds for Punjab polls

‘Serious challenges’

Addressing on the floor of the National Assembly after securing a confidence vote, the prime minister thanked the coalition partners for reposing their trust in his leadership.

“Today, Pakistan is facing serious challenges […] Pakistan’s economy was prospering before the 2018 elections,” he said while blaming the previous PTI-led government for the prevailing economic crisis.

The “entire world” is aware of how RTS was compromised and the 2018 election results were manipulated. Former chief justice Saqib Nisar ordered to stop the recounting of votes when we challenged the election results.

When talks were progressing with International Monetary Fund (IMF), the two assemblies were dissolved at the whims of Imran Khan to create difficulties for the government.

Referring to the PTI chief’s ‘foreign conspiracy’ narrative, PM Shehbaz said the incumbent government is importing cheap Russian oil “which will arrive soon in the country”.

He said had his government been formed as a result of a foreign-backed conspiracy, it would not have imported oil from Russia.

“Today, the decisions of parliament are being challenged. It is not possible that a court stops the implementation of a law which has not been enacted yet,” he said, taking about the top court’s decision to stop the implementation of the bill seeking to curb the chief justice’s powers.

“We don’t accept the decision of a three-member bench. We accept the decision of a majority of four judges,” he said while referring to the Punjab elections delay case verdict of the Supreme Court.