CM Punjab election: Asif Zardari's mission has failed, says Pervaiz Elahi

LAHORE: PTI candidate for CM Punjab Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi on Friday chaired a meeting of the PML-Q parliamentary party at Punjab Assembly and said that Asif Zardari’s mission has failed, hours after the latter visited his cousin and party chief Chaudhry Shujaat to convince him to support Hamza Shahbaz.

Pervaiz Elahi after arriving at the assembly told media that everything would be clear by 4:00 pm and poked fun at his opponents saying that they prayed all night for an increase in their tally through a miracle.

When asked about Rana Sana Ullah has predicted the absence of 50 PTI MPAs during voting for CM Punjab, he refused to comment on it and said that every attempt to cancel the election of the chief minister will be foiled.

“PML-N’s history is full of Changa Manga-like politics and threatening their opponents however, this time their attempts will not succeed,” Pervaiz Elahi said, adding that Imran Khan and democracy will succeed today.

He further warned the government against violating the apex court’s order to hold the election in a transparent and peaceful manner.

CM Punjab election

A crucial session of the Punjab Assembly (PA) for the election of the provincial chief minister (CM) will be held today (Friday) at 4pm under the chairmanship of Deputy Speaker Dost Mazari.

According to details, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has a clear majority in the Punjab Assembly, with Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi now most likely to replace Hamza Shahbaz Sharif as the new chief minister of the province.

During the by-elections in Punjab, the PTI grabbed 15 of the total 20 seats while PML-N won four seats and the remaining one seat went to an independent candidate.

Before the by-polls, the PTI and PML-Q had already attained the strength of 173 (163 of PTI and 10 of PML-Q). Now, with 15 additional seats, this strength has reached 188 whereas the figure of the simple majority stands at 186.

Meanwhile, the coalition government has 179 members – PML-N with 164 members, PPP with seven, three independents and one member of the Pakistan Rah-e-Haq party.