Punjab governor denotifies CM Pervaiz Elahi

LAHORE: Punjab Governor Baligh-ur-Rehman has denotified the Chief Minister (CM) Pervaiz Elahi for not seeking the vote of confidence despite his advice, ARY News reported late Thursday night.

The Punjab Governor Baligh-ur-Rehman issued a notification in this regard. Punjab CM Pervaiz Elahi and his cabinet were constitutionally made inactive for not seeking the vote of confidence from the provincial assembly.

Taking to Twitter, Punjab governor shared the order and said since CM Pervaiz Elahi has refrained from obtaining the Vote of Confidence at the appointed day and time therefore he ceases to hold office.

Since CM has refrained from obtaining Vote of Confidence at the appointed day and time therefore he ceases to hold office. Orders issued this evening pic.twitter.com/ZWnK376DfP

— M Baligh Ur Rehman (@MBalighurRehman) December 22, 2022

The notification stated, “Consequent to the facts that Ch Pervaiz Elahi, Chief Minister Punjab refrained from obtaining vote of confidence at 04:00PM yesterday, in line with an Order under Article 130(7) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, issued under my hand on 19 December 2022, in line with Rule 22(7) of the Rules of Procedure of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab, 1997, and that he still has not done so even after the lapse of another twenty four hours, I am satisfied that he does not command the confidence of the majority of the members of the Punjab Assembly, and therefore ceases to hold his office with immediate effect”.

READ: SIBTAIN KHAN SAYS VOTING ON NO-CONFIDENCE MOTION TO TAKE PLACE IN JANUARY

The order further stated that the provincial cabinet was not dissolved as a consequence of the de-notification of the chief minister.

“In terms of Article 133 of the Constitution, Ch Pervaiz Elahi, former Chief Minister of Punjab is hereby asked to continue to hold office until his successor enters upon the office of the Chief Minister,” it added.

Punjab crisis

The political crisis in Punjab intensified after the Centre and the province came face-to-face over the no-trust voting against Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi, PA speaker and deputy speaker.

The crisis deepened after the governor and PA speaker rejected each other’s rulings regarding the no-trust voting and summoning of a special session for vote of confidence today.

Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had submitted no-trust motion against Punjab chief minister, speaker and deputy speaker to the provincial assembly’s secretariat.

PM stopped Punjab governor

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif stopped Governor Balighur Rehman from denotifying Punjab CM Pervaiz Elahi.

The development came after the legal team of PML-N advised the party to refrain from denotifying CM Elahi as the matter can be challenged in court.

The legal team presented a suggestion during a meeting held at the Governor’s House. The meeting was attended by the senior leadership of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

On the legal team’s recommendation, the prime minister stopped the Punjab governor from denotifying CM Elahi for now and ordered more consultation on the matter.