Punjab CM election: Hamza Shahbaz to stay as chief minister

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Q leader and Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf candidate Ch Parvez Elahi could not become chief minister of Punjab even after receiving 186 votes out of 371. Whereas, Pakistan Muslim League-N leader Hamza Shehbaz continued to stay as the CM even after bagging 179 votes.

Punjab Assembly’s session to elect new Leader of the House, with Deputy Speaker Sardar Dost Muhammad Mazari in the chair, began with delay of three hours at 7:00 pm on Friday. Pakistan Muslim League-N leader Hamza Shehbaz and PML-Q leader Chaudhry Parvez Elahi were contesting for the slot of Punjab CM.

Announcing the result, Dost Mazari said he had received a letter from Chaudhry Shujaat in which he directed his MPAs, as the party head, not to cast vote in favour of PTI candidate. He directed PML-Q MPAs to vote for Hamza Shahbaz.

The deputy speaker said as per the order of the Supreme Court, parliamentary leaders could not vote in violation of the party chief’s order. Hence, he said, he rejected PML-Q’s 10 votes, reducing the vote for Parvez Elahi to 176. Therefore, Hamza Shehbaz will stay as the Punjab CM.

Dost Muhammad Mazari was guarded by multiple plain-clothed policemen. The policemen entered the assembly hall from the back door.

During the point of order, a PML-N MPA, Khalil Tahir Sandhu, raised question on presence of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) candidate Shabbir Ahmad, who has won the by-election for the Punjab Assembly seat PP-167, saying that he was not issued the notification by the Election Commission of Pakistan as his case was pending.

He also said that how a PTI candidate Zain Qureshi could simultaneously hold the seat of MNA and MPA.

Dismissing the PML-N’s objections, Dost Mazari said Zain Qureshi had ceased to be an MNA after winning election of MPA. He also said the candidate who would get more votes, would become the chief minister.

PTI MPA Raja Basharat said the ones who had taken the oath could not be denied the right of casting vote.

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It is pertinent here to mention that Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has reportedly directed members of the PML-Q not to cast vote in favour of PTI candidate Chaudhry Parvez Elahi. “I will not let PTI candidate win the election of Punjab CM,” he purportedly said. On the other hand, Parvez Elahi said Shujaat’s direction had no value because he was not a parliamentary leader.

Meanwhile, all the 10 PML-Q MPAs casted their vote along with Parvez Elahi in Parvez’s favour.

Senior Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) leader and formal federal minister for information and broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Friday said unnecessary delay in the session of the provincial assembly for election of Punjab chief minister was a violation of the clear orders of the Supreme Court.

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Fawad Chaudhry said the lawyers had been asked to take action for the contempt of court by Deputy Speaker Sardar Dost Muhammad Mazari.

“After some time from now, the petition for the contempt of court against the deputy speaker is going to be filed in the Supreme Court,” he maintained.