Vote of confidence: Opposition walks out of Punjab Assembly

LAHORE: After the strong protest, the opposition lawmakers walked out of the Punjab Assembly after failing to stop the vote of confidence process for the Chief Minister (CM) Pervaiz Elahi, ARY News reported.

The opposition lawmakers staged a violent protest to interrupt the Punjab Assembly’s session after the submission of a resolution by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Members of the Provincial Assembly (MPAs) for conducting the vote of confidence.

The opposition MPAs threw chairs at the government lawmakers and surrounded the PA speaker’s dice. However, the security officers stopped them from reaching Speaker Sibtain Khan’s dice.

After the commencement of the voting process, the opposition lawmakers boycotted the PA session and walked out of the assembly hall.

The government MPAs started to vacate the assembly hall in phases to commence the voting process. As per regulations, government lawmakers will participate in the voting process in phases.

Resolution tabled

The Punjab Assembly’s session was resumed late Wednesday night to conduct the voting for showing confidence in CM Pervaiz Elahi after completing the required number of MPAs.

PTI MPAs Mian Aslam Iqbal and Raja Basharat submitted the resolution for the voting today.

Despite the federal government’s tactics, PTI and its allies managed to complete the numbers in the Punjab Assembly ahead of the vote of confidence.

The claims of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) leaders Rana Sanaullah and Attaullah Tarar proved false as the remaining PTI and PML-Q MPAs, Javed Akhtar and Ammar Yasir reached the assembly hall.

Strict security arrangements were made in the Punjab Assembly in view of the expected protest of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N). Security officers were deployed beside the speaker’s dice ahead of the voting.

Surprise move

In a surprise move by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and its allies, Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Pervaiz Elahi will obtain the vote of confidence from the provincial assembly today.

During the session, the opposition lawmakers pointed out the quorum and gathered before the speaker’s dice. The speaker said that the quorum is complete and the government lawmakers are in majority.

The speaker also offered the opposition MPAs to recount the number of lawmakers present in the assembly hall. Later, the opposition requested the PA speaker to adjourn the session.

Speaker Sibtain Khan said that the opposition MPAs should refrain from dictating him. He refused to adjourn the session amid the vote of confidence with the full quorum.