A five-member Supreme Court bench led by CJP Qazi Faez Esa has struck down its earlier ruling of 2022, which declared that under Article 63-A of the Constitution, defecting lawmakers' vote was invalid.
According to this latest judgment, the bench unanimously decided that defecting lawmakers' votes should be counted.
This paves the way for the ruling coalition to vie for the votes of PTI-backed Independents, whose votes, it is feared, can now be purchased as a result of this latest ruling.
As a result, the PTI has backed out of the proceedings of the Supreme Court in connection with the Article 63-A case and announced a protest march against the decision.
Analysts are expecting the ruling coalition to table bills for amending the constitution in Parliament next week, aiming at reforming the judiciary.
Most see this as an attempt to subjugate the judiciary, shooting down any chance of it working as a strong and independent pillar of the state.
Under the proposed amendment, it is widely expected that judges to the proposed Federal Constitutional Court - the new apex court of the country - will be appointed by the Executive in an ad hoc manner.
Therefore, a legal and procedural basis has been laid out to make the top Court of the country subservient to Parliament with hand-picked judges hearing cases.
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