ISLAMABAD   -   Since the apex court has asked to conduct voting on no-trust against Prime Minister Imran Khan on April 9, the joint opposition is in a comfortable position to show the required vote of 172 members to oust the incumbent PM.

The opposition parties, on the day of voting on the no-trust motion, after the dismissal of no-confidence motion by Deputy Speaker National Assembly Qasim Khan Suri had shown 197 members in the house by conducting their ‘own’ national session.

The opposition parties and former coalition partners of the government have been conveyed to mark their presence tomorrow in the national assembly to cast their vote against Prime Minister Imran Khan, background discussions with the opposition parties members revealed.

On April 3, the deputy speaker had dismissed the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan by saying ‘No foreign power shall be allowed to topple an elected government through a conspiracy’.

Suri, in his controversial ruling, termed the motion against article-5 of the constitution. “No foreign power shall be allowed to topple an elected government through a conspiracy,” he read out the ruling, which was revered by the Supreme Court.

The number-strong opposition has to show 172 votes in the National Assembly to vote out the incumbent PM as a leader of the house.

National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser would conduct voting on the resolution against the Prime Minister moved by the joint opposition on March 8.

Sources said that the main opposition parties have still been casting doubts over the intentions of the ruling party for creating a mess in the national assembly session scheduled to be held tomorrow.

The opposition with the seven important votes of MQM-P, five from BAP and one from JWP are confident to easily cross the magic figure of 172 necessary to defeat the government. According to the planning, the sources claimed that the dissident MPs from PTI would be asked for voting only after confirming the 172 votes.

The numerical strength of the joint opposition, without mentioning the possible support of PTI’s dissident members, has cleared that the joint opposition is in a position to make a new government in the centre. The number game of opposition is claimed to have touched 190 members in the house, which is constitutionally sufficient to form a government.

According to the numerical strength in the National Assembly, the government benches after the dissociation of 5 MQM-P, 5 BAP, 1 JWP and around 12 dissident members have lost the majority in the house.