If the Constitutional Court rules that the charter amendment process is unconstitutional, the government will instead go ahead with changes to the charter section by section, chief government whip Wirach Ratanasate said on Saturday.
On Tuesday, parliament agreed that the court should rule on the legality of proposed amendments aimed at setting up a charter drafting body. A joint session of MPs and senators approved the motion by 366 votes to 316 with 15 abstentions.
He denied the government wanted to delay the charter amendment process.
"I insist that the government did not give any instructions [to delay the process]. It is a matter of when the amendment process will be complete," Mr Wirach, also an MP of the ruling Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP), said.
The goal of a petition seeking the ruling is to ensure the charter amendment proposals will receive enough support when parliament convenes for a second reading on Feb 24 and 25 and a third reading next month.
"Without the court's review, there is no guarantee we would receive enough support in the third reading in March," he said.
Democrat Party spokesman and coalition partner Ramate Rattanachaweng said his party will throw its full backing behind the proposed amendments, though how the court will rule remains to be seen.
The motion seeking the court's review was proposed by PPRP list MP Paiboon Nititawan and senator Somchai Swangkarn.
They said they were concerned that proposed amendments to Section 256 of the constitution, which will pave the way for the creation of a charter drafting assembly, may be unconstitutional.
The motion was signed by 48 senators and 25 MPs, all from the ruling party, the PPRP.