PTI's Usman Buzdar elected new Punjab CM

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPA Usman Buzdar has been elected as new chief minister of Punjab. 

Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi presided over the Punjab Assembly session during which the election for leader of the house took place.

The election was held by the method of division of the house. Mr Buzdar received 186 votes while his rival, PML-N leader Hamza Shehbaz, bagged 159 votes.

As the speaker announced the results, the house plunged into chaos as members from the opposition benches staged a protest, gathering in front of the speaker’s dias and chanting slogans.

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PTI MPAs, however, thumped desks and congratulated Buzdar on being elected as chief executive of the province.

Mr Buzdar, who hails from the mountainous area of Dera Ghazi Khan, has bee under the media scrutiny since yesterday after a murder case registered against him and his family members in 1998 surfaced.

The case was registered against him, his father and brother by Border Military Police Station of Sorra in 1998. It was settled through a jirga in 2000 and Rs7.5million compensation money was paid to the heirs of six deceased.

Reacting to media reports, Prime Minister Imran Khan defended his pick for the prized post of chief executive of the country’s largest province, saying that this is the first time Punjab will have a chief minister from such a neglected area “who is acutely aware of what has to be done there”.

“I have done my due diligence over the past two weeks & have found him to be an honest man. He has integrity & stands by my vision and ideology of Naya Pakistan,” Khan said.

In the previous session of the provincial assembly, Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam’s (PML-Q) Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPA Sardar Dost Muhammad Mazari were elected speaker and deputy speaker of the house respectively.

Mr Elahi, who was the candidate of PTI-led coalition, secured 201 votes whereas his rival, PML-N candidate Chaudhry Iqbal Gujjar, bagged 145 votes. A total of 348 votes were cast in the election for the PA speaker while one vote was discarded.

Outgoing speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal administered oath to Mr Elahi amid protest and uproar from the opposition.

Mazari had received 187 votes while his opponent Muhammad Waris received 159 votes. The Pakistan People Party (PPP) abstained from voting for the election of both the speaker and the deputy Speaker offices.