Parliament Votes to Revoke Articles Under Supreme Court Scrutiny, Shift Amendment to Alternate Clause

Parliament has voted to pass the General Purposes Committee’s proposal, removing three articles contested in the Supreme Court and integrating the calculation of the total number of parliamentarians into an existing Parliament regulations article.

The amendments made last year specified that the total number of Members of Parliament (MPs) would be calculated without including any constituency where the representative seat has become vacant.

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Following the resignation of seven members of parliament who were appointed to positions in the new administration, the total strength of the current parliamentary session decreased from 87 to 80. Consequently, the quorum required for parliament sittings was also reduced.

The Attorney General had brought the matter to the apex court, seeking the annulment of the three articles added to Article 49 of the Parliament Regulations. It was argued that the wording concerning the “total number of parliamentarians” in these articles contradicted Article 71 of the Constitution.

After the Supreme Court issued an interim stay order on the implementation of these articles and scheduled hearings for February 25, the General Committee of Parliament on Thursday endorsed the removal of these articles from the rules.

Instead, the committee approved the inclusion of a similar clause into Article 242. This new clause specifies that when counting the total number of members, vacant seats will not be included if there is insufficient time, as stipulated by law, remaining in a term for another member to be elected to the seat.

New amendments summarised:

The three amendments to Article 49 of the Rules are as follows:

• This rule clarifies that, for calculation purposes, the total number of members of the House currently in office will be taken into account.
• In the event of a vacancy in any constituency, excluding those resulting from the Parliament’s term expiration, said constituency will not be included in the calculation of the Parliament’s total membership until a new member is duly elected.
• Should there be any alteration in the overall membership count during the current Parliament’s tenure, the Speaker is required to promptly announce such changes during the earliest session of the Parliament.

With today’s amendment, additional clauses have been integrated into Article 49, thus stipulating that vacancies shall be acknowledged if occurring within six months prior to a general election. Conversely, should the vacancy exceed this timeframe, necessitating a by-election will be imperative.

The motion garnered approval with 29 votes in favour, while 8 members dissented amongst the 37 present.

It’s worth noting that the parliament had previously announced its intention not to comply with the Supreme Court’s interim order.

The Supreme Court has expedited the hearing, which is now scheduled to take place next Wednesday, February 21, at 10:00 hrs.