ISLAMABAD: Voting for the new chief minister has started in the Punjab Assembly. Pervez Elahi is the PTI-PML-Q candidate for top slot of the Punjab province while Hamza Shahbaz is the candidate of PDM.
The contest, which began after a delay of three hours, is set to reshape the country’s future political scenario.
The landslide victory of PTI in last week’s Punjab by-polls turned the tables around in the Punjab Assembly. However, a confusion still persists over the numbers of the two major parties of Punjab — PTI and PML-N — who will have a thrilling contest for the Punjab CM between their respective candidates Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervez Elahi and Hamza Shahbaz, the son of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
As the speaker himself is a candidate for the contest, the session is being held under the chairpersonship of Deputy Speaker Dost Mazari, who has sought strict security arrangements for today’s political activity.
Chaudhry Shujaat withdraws support for Pervez Elahi
In a major development ahead of the voting, PML-Q leader Moonis Elahi said that his uncle, Chaudhry Shujaat has refused to back Imran Khan’s candidate.
He said that he had gone to visit Shujaat but he refused to issue a video recording in this regard. “I have lost and Imran Khan has lost as well but Zardari has won,” Moonis said.
However, setting aside Ch. Shujaat Hussain’s directive, all the PML-Q MPAs have voted for Pervez Elahi.
In response, former interior minister Sheikh Rasheed said that Elahi was the parliamentary leader of PML-Q.
“Chaudhry Shujaat had said twice or thrice before that he would back Elahi, but Asif Zardari has, once again, exposed himself.”
