President Asif Ali Zardari has complete control over Pakistan People's Party (PPP) as head (Co-Chairman) of the party under the eighteenth Amendment of the Constitution, even if he is compelled to vacate the Presidency. Senator S M Zafar, a member of the parliamentary committee on 18th Amendment, said that every party head, in or outside of Parliament, has the power to disqualify his/her parliamentarian, including prime minister, on specific actions.
The party head can disqualify his party member if he/she resigns from the party with the objective of joining another party. "A party member can also be disqualified if he/she votes against the party head's directives in the event of a vote of confidence or no-confidence against the prime minister; and a party head can disqualify the member if he/she votes against his directives with respect to money bill or a constitutional (amendment) bill under 18th Amendment of the Constitution," he said.
Article 63A of the constitution, disqualification on grounds of defection states:
"(1) If a member of a Parliamentary Party composed of a single political party in a House-
(a) resigns from membership of his political party or joins another Parliamentary Party; or
(b) votes or abstains from voting in the House contrary to any direction issued by the Parliamentary Party to which he belongs, in relations to-(i) election of the Prime Minister or the Chief Minister; or (ii) a vote of confidence or a vote of no-confidence; or (iii) a Money Bill or a Constitution (Amendment) Bill;
He may be declared in writing by the Party Head to have defected from the political party, and the Head of the Parliamentary Party may forward a copy of the declaration to the Presiding Officer, and shall similarly forward a copy thereof to the member concerned:
Provided that before making the declaration, the Party Head shall provide such member with an opportunity to show cause as to why such declaration may not be made against him.
"Party Head" means any person, by whatever name called, declared as such by the Party. Article 63A sub-clause (5), "Any party aggrieved by the decision of the Election Commission may within thirty days, prefer an appeal to the Supreme Court which shall decide the matter within ninety days from the date of the filing of the appeal."