The Supreme Court (SC) decided on Monday to form a larger bench to hear the presidential reference filed by the government, which sought its opinion on Article 63-A of the Constitution, related to parliamentarians being disqualified on grounds of defection.
Earlier, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government submitted a presidential reference in the top court.
The reference was submitted by Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Khalid Jawed Khan on behalf of President Arif Alvi, which was heard by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Munib Akhtar.
It deals with the "legal status of the vote of party members when they are clearly involved in horse-trading and change their loyalties in exchange for money", as per Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry.
Govt to seek SC’s advice on disqualification of MNAs who are ‘horse-trading’: Fawad
On Friday, the government had decided to file a reference in SC to seek an interpretation of Article 63-A after several PTI lawmakers came out in the open saying they would vote on the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Meanwhile, the top court will also take up the Supreme Court Bar Association's (SCBA) petition requesting the SC to direct all state functionaries to act strictly in accordance with the Constitution and the law, and ask them to restrain from acting in any manner detrimental to and unwarranted by the Constitution.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz President Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and JUI-F Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman have also reached the SC for the hearing.
On Saturday, a two-judge bench comprising the CJP and Justice Akhtar heard the SCBA's petition.
No-confidence motion: SC issues notices to 4 major political parties
During the proceedings, the SC said that the proceedings of Parliament under Article 95 of the Constitution ought to be conducted strictly in accordance with the Constitution and the law.
Proceedings of parliament must be conducted as per constitution and law: SC
The court order said in so far as the political aspect of the proceedings under Article 95 of Constitution is concerned, that is a non-legal matter, and does not relate to the jurisdiction of the Court.
The SC had issued notices to four major political parties in the case pertaining to the no-confidence vote in the National Assembly against Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The notices were served to the ruling PTI, as well as Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F).