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Soon after the government managed to pass the Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2021 — granting voting rights to overseas Pakistanis and the use of electronic voting machines — the joint opposition announced challenging it in the Supreme Court.
Speaking to the media outside the Parliament, Leader of the Opposition and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif, who was flanked by Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto and JUI-F’s Maulana Asad Mahmood, said that today is the darkest day in the history of Pakistan’s parliament as the government trampled on all the traditions of a joint sitting.
“We had only asked the speaker to follow the rules [of the house] but he did not listen to a single word we said… Bilawal Bhutto and Asad Mahmood tried to convince him but he did not listen,” he added.
Read more: Parliament passes amendments allowing EVMs, overseas voting in crucial joint session
Shehbaz claimed that the opposition had over 200 members during the session. However, he alleged that the government members were “over counted”.
Calling the EVMs the “evil and vicious machines”, the opposition leader said that it was being imposed upon the nation by the government and the opposition will not let that happen, adding that they will challenge it in the Supreme Court.
Speaking on the occasion, Bilawal said the entire country should know that the government was “defeated” today as in the joint session legislations are passed by the majority of the total strength of the National Assembly and the Senate jointly.
Also read: Opposition forms committee to challenge constitutional amendments in SC
“This number comes out to be 222 votes which the government failed to muster,” he claimed.
The PPP chairman asked the media to make people aware of the fact that the government was “defeated” today.
Responding to questions, he said PPP has a historic stance that every institution must work within its own constitutional ambit.
Earlier today, the government achieved a crucial victory in the parliament’s joint session as it managed to pass the Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2021.
The opposition, in protest, tore copies of the day’s agenda and walked out of the session in protest. The bill on the use of EVMs was earlier deferred at the request of Adviser to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan but was later put up for a vote.
The opposition has already announced forming a committee to challenge the constitutional amendments put forward by the incumbent government in the Supreme Court.
The committee comprises PPP leader Farooq H Naik, Kamran Murtaza of JUI-F, and PML-N’s Ata Tarar.
لائیو: پارلیمان کے مشترکہ اجلاس کے بعد اپوزیشن رہنماؤں کی میڈیا سے بات چیت https://t.co/htrJL2B4Pc
— PPP (@MediaCellPPP) November 17, 2021