CM Punjab election: Ruling alliance considers three options

LAHORE: The ruling alliance in Punjab is considering three options as part of their strategy to make sure their candidate Pervaiz Elahi becomes chief minister, ARY News reported.

According to sources, the first option is that the speaker should give a ruling that the votes of 20 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and five Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmakers should be rejected as they are dissidents.

The sources mentioned that the adjourning of the assembly session again is the second option.

The third option for the ruling alliance is to bring back five dissident members so that they have 186 members in total, according to sources. The dissident members would stay in the opposition but promise to cast their vote in favour of nominee Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi.

Their count is not being completed as the six Punjab Assembly members are not being counted as the lawmaker from the coalition government.

The sources mentioned that there is division on the government’s move to suspend around 18 lawmakers involved in the Punjab Assembly fiasco. The decision on allowing them to vote or not is yet to be made.

The coveted seat fell vacant when Prime Minister Imran Khan decided to replace Usman Buzdar from the coveted position.

The development came amid a flurry of political activity in the country after the joint opposition had submitted a no-confidence resolution against Prime Minister Khan in the National Assembly.

The ruling party PTI and the PML-Q have nominated Chaudhry Parvez Elahi for the chief minister slot while the joint opposition has fielded PML-N Vice President Hamza Shahbaz.

The election was supposed to be held on April 3 but was pushed back indefinitely.

Earlier, the lobby of the Punjab Assembly can be seen at sixes and seven due to protest of opposition members who later vandalized the furniture.

A committee was formed under the direction of Punjab Assembly deputy speaker Dost Muhammad Mazari to investigate the matter.