Constitution 1973 § Article 63A — Disqualification on grounds of defection, etc

Statutory text (English)

(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 relation 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
Party Head may forward a copy of the declaration to the Presiding Officer and the Chief Election
Commissioner 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.

Explanation.— “Party Head” means any person, by whatever name called, declared as such by
the Party.

(2) A member of a House shall be deemed to be a member of a Parliamentary Party if he,
having been elected as a candidate or nominee of a political party which constitutes the Parliamentary
Party in the House or, having been elected otherwise than as a candidate or nominee of a political
party, has become a member of such Parliamentary Party after such election by means of a declaration
in writing.

(3) Upon receipt of the declaration under clause

(1), the Presiding Officer of the House shall
within two days refer, and in case he fails to do so it shall be deemed that he has referred, the declaration
to the Chief Election Commissioner who shall lay the declaration before the Election Commission for
its decision thereon confirming the declaration or otherwise within thirty days of its receipt by the
Chief Election Commissioner.

(4) Where the Election Commission confirms the declaration, the member referred to in clause

(1) shall cease to be a member of the House and his seat shall become vacant.

(5) Any party aggrieved by the decision of the Election Commission may, within thirty days,
prefer an appeal to the 1[Federal Constitutional] Court which shall decide the matter within ninety days
from the date of the filing of the appeal.

(6) Nothing contained in this Article shall apply to the Chairman or Speaker of a House.

(7) For the purpose of this Article,—
(a) "House" means the National Assembly or the Senate, in relation to the
Federation; and a Provincial Assembly in relation to the Province, as the case
may be;
(b) "Presiding Officer" means the Speaker of the National Assembly, the Chairman
of the Senate or the Speaker of the Provincial Assembly, as the case may be.

(8) Article 63A substituted as aforesaid shall comes into effect from the next general elections
to be held after the commencement of the Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 2010:

Provided that till Article 63A substituted as aforesaid comes into effect the provisions of
existing Article 63A shall remain operative.].

Source and verification

Source citation: Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973, Art. 63A: Pakistan Code portal consolidated official PDF 'THE CONSTITUTION OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF PAKISTAN' (incl. 26th Amdt Act 2024 & 27th Amdt Act 2025), p. 41, 42, 43, ingested 2026-09-15. Automated transcription from official source (pypdf extraction, audited artifact repair); human admin re-check required before production.

Verification status: verified · Text status: auto_transcribed_verified_source

The record cites an official source, but its transcription is automated or only partly checked; a human re-check is pending.

Official Urdu text status: pending_official_urdu_text. Where official Urdu wording has not been sourced, Qanoon does not substitute an unverified translation for the statutory text.

Historical text notes

1 historical record is linked to this section. Historical wording may be incomplete or pending verification; it is not presented as current law.

• Date not confirmed: Consolidated current text as published in the official Pakistan Code PDF (p. 41, 42, 43) — reflects all amendments recorded in the official footnotes up to ingest date 2026-09-15. Automated transcription; per-amendment…

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