— Session to elect Punjab chief minister at 7:30 pm tonight
LAHORE: In a surprising turn of events, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) moved a motion of no-confidence against its own lawmaker, the deputy speaker, on Wednesday, ostensibly to keep him from convening a session of Punjab Assembly to elect the chief minister.
Confusion continued to engulf the vote in the Punjab Assembly to elect the next chief executive of the province as, hours after moving the election from April 6 (today) to April 16, Dost Muhammad Mazari summoned a session for 7:30 pm tonight.
A document bearing the signatures of Mazari and announcing the summoning of the session is making rounds on social media but has not been notified by the Assembly Secretariat in order to come into effect.
Deputy Speaker Punjab Assembly Sardar Dost Muhammad Mazari has summoned Punjab Assembly session at 7:30 this evening.
In this special session, the voting process for election of new Chief Minister will be held. pic.twitter.com/ZQwmzJ0wbd
— Niaziizhar (@izharjournalist) April 6, 2022
The farce coincides with an oral assurance given to the Supreme Court by the Punjab advocate-general that the provincial government will hold the much-hyped election in time.
But even after the passage of over a week to the resignation of former chief minister Usman Buzdar, the matter continues to be in a state of limbo, and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle accused Mazari of trying to create confusion to benefit the other side.
When asked to comment, Mazari told Pakistan Today that he has not spoken to Pervaiz Elahi, the speaker and a candidate for the top provincial post, about the postponing of the election.
He was of the view that if the election is further postponed, the assembly bureaucracy would have to provide a sound justification to the Supreme Court.
Speaking to Pakistan Today, Syed Usman Mehmood, a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) lawmaker, said the opposition has the required numbers to elect Hamza Shehbaz, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) vice president and a second candidate, to the office.
Mehmood said Elahi was delaying the session because he, despite support from the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), did not have a simple majority to form a government.
With 183 members, the PTI holds a majority in the 371-seat assembly. Any party needs the support of 186 members​​ to form a government.
Mehmood said since Elahi is also a candidate, his powers as speaker rest with the deputy speaker.
He further said the united opposition will approach the Supreme Court if the election wasn’t held tonight.
Meanwhile, it has also emerged that Mazari did not attend a meeting of PTI lawmakers from Punjab chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan at Governor’s House late Tuesday. Several other ruling lawmakers were absent from the gathering as well.
Chief Minister Buzdar, from the ruling PTI, stepped down late last month as Khan, nominated Elahi, the head of coalition partner PML-Q, as the new chief executive of the province.
In return, the PML-Q, which has five seats in the National Assembly pledged support for Khan against the no-trust motion.
Elahi, who served as the Punjab chief minister from 2002 to 2007, is currently the provincial assembly speaker.
