President Arif Alvi on Monday wrote a letter to both the prime minister and the leader of the opposition regarding the selection of a caretaker prime minister.
The president said that under article 58-1 of the Constitution the National Assembly stands dissolved.
According to a letter written to Prime Minister Imran Khan and Shehbaz Sharif by the president today, caretaker prime minister shall be appointed by the President in consultation with the prime minister and the leader of the opposition in the outgoing National Assembly.
It says in case the prime minister and the leader of the opposition do not agree on any person to be appointed as caretaker prime minister within three days of the dissolution of the National Assembly, they will forward two nominees each to a parliamentary committee comprising eight members having equal representation from the treasury and the opposition.
Imran Khan shall continue to hold the office of Prime Minister till the appointment of the caretaker Prime Minister.
President Alvi dissolved the lower house of the parliament on the suggestion of prime minister Imran Khan after a resolution of no confidence against him was dismissed by Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri.
Following the dismissal, Supreme Court took suo motu notice of the situation and will hear the case today.
The apex court has directed the AGP to determine the constitutionality of the ruling of the deputy speaker against the no-confidence motion.
In the petition, the joint opposition has taken the plea that “the act of the deputy speaker by proroguing the session of parliament on the vote of no-confidence motion be declared a violation of fundamental rights of the people”.
The plea said that “the deputy speaker’s ruling was against the articles 66, 95, 17(2) of the Constitution and other enabling provisions and that this act and all consequences thereafter may be set aside by declaring the same illegal, ultra vires to the Constitution”.
The petition has sought directives to the National Assembly speaker/deputy speaker to conduct the vote count on the no-confidence motion of the members present in the National Assembly, on the floor of the house and declare the result of the no-confidence motion”.
It has further prayed that “the respondents might be directed not to interfere with the vote count and smooth voting on the resolution of no-confidence of the prime minister as per the agenda today”.
