CM Punjab election: Dy Speaker Dost Mazari asks parties to maintain peace

LAHORE: Deputy Speaker Punjab Assembly Dost Muhammad Mazari Friday said that he would try to hold the polling process in a peaceful manner after the apex court directed him to lead the proceedings of the House to elect the chief minister of the province, ARY NEWS reported.

Mazari in his message today said that today is an important day and he would implement the apex court’s decision in letter and spirit.

“I have written a letter to the chief secretary for security in the wake of possible vandalism during the election process,” he said and appealed to all political parties to take part in the election process in a peaceful manner.

He shared that the local and international media would be allowed to cover the poll from the press gallery.

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.