ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan has deseated 25 PTI dissident MPAs in the Punjab Assembly who voted for Hamza Shehbaz Sharif to become Chief Minister of Punjab. Resultantly, Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz has lost majority in the assembly.
The deseated PTI dissident MPAs belong to Jahangir Khan Tareen, Aleem Khan Groups and Assad Khokhar Groups.
As the ECP has deseated PTI’s dissident MPAs, which party still holds majority in the Punjab Assembly is a question which is haunting everyone in the country and abroad. To find a true picture, just read this article.
Before ECP’s decision, PTI held 183 seats in Punjab Assembly and after deseating of its 25 estranged MPAs, the party stands with 158 MPAs. However, with the support of 10 PML-Q MPAs, the strength of the PTI is being calculated at 168.
On the other hand, PML-N has 165 MPAs in the provincial assembly and with the support of seven PPP MPAs, its number of votes increases to 172. There are four independent MPAs while Rah-e-Haq Party has one MPA in the Punjab Assembly. If PTI garners support of all the independent MPAs and also gets vote from Rah-e-Haq Party, it will be able to fetch 170 votes against 172 of PML-N. But the situation will change in case the PML-N wins the vote and support of independent and Rah-e-Haq MPAs.
According to constitutional procedure of election for the Punjab Chief Minister, if any of the candidates gets support of 186 MPAs in the first round, he/she will be the winner. However, in the light of the Supreme Court and ECP verdicts, now it is impossible and unlawful as well to get vote from rival political parties and it will not be possible for any CM candidate to get 186 votes. Hence, a second round of election will be held and the candidate who secured the highest votes will be declared Chief Minister of the Punjab.
Another development in the Punjab Chief Minister’s next election is that being the candidate of Chief Minister position, Chaudhry Pervez Ilahi will not be able to preside over the session to be called for voting for new leader of the house. Thus, deputy speaker of the Punjab Assembly will be the relevant person to chair the session of the provincial assembly.
