Lawmakers to decide Punjab's fate as CM election takes place today - Mentor's News

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Friday, July 22, 2022

Lawmakers to decide Punjab's fate as CM election takes place today

Hamza Shahbaz and Pervez Elahi
All eyes are on Punjab as lawmakers elect their next chief minister at 4pm today.

Lawmakers have already begun to arrive at the Punjab Assembly, with some PTI members flashing the victory sign.

The election, which will be chaired by Deputy Speaker Dost Mohammad Mazari, comes a mere three months after incumbent Hamza Shehbaz secured the office on April 16 after garnering 197 votes — including 25 from PTI dissident MPAs — in a gruelling process that was punctuated by delays and violence.

The dissidents’ votes, which were instrumental in putting Hamza in the top seat, began a saga that went from their losing their seats to a Supreme Court interpretation of Article 63-A that retroactively gutted their votes, setting the stage for another election for the provincial chief.

 

What has transpired so far

PML-Q is courted by the PTI and opposition as vote of no-confidence brews against Imran Khan

Usman Buzdar steps down as CM to make way for Parvez Elahi as PTI-PML-Q candidate

In a session marred by violence, Hamza is elected Punjab chief minister after garnering votes from 25 PTI dissidents

A reference is filed against the dissidents with the ECP, urging the MPAs removal

They are eventually de-seated for defection, effectively making Hamza lose his majority in the house

Five PTI MPAs are notified on reserved seats

SC orders new election which will be held today

By-elections are held for the 20 general seats, 15 of which go to the PTI

One PTI MPA resigns amid claims of horse-trading

Elahi, who has 187 supporters, is poised for victory, while Hamza has 179

Where do the parties stand now?

Flourish logoA Flourish election chart

While numerically PTI stands at 187 including PML-Q’s seats, the number of votes it has is 186, as Deputy Speaker Dost Mohammad Mazari of the PTI will not cast his vote because he will be presiding over the session. The speaker’s vote is used as a tie-breaker however.

How did all this start?
It started in February, as the vote of no-confidence was taking shape against Imran Khan, then the prime minister.

The PTI was trying to prevent the on-the-fence PML-Q from voting with the opposition, which was courting it.

Eventually, Usman Buzdar, the chief minister at the time, resigned from his seat to make way for Parvez Elahi as the joint PTI-PML-Q candidate.

Come election time, 25 PTI dissidents voted for Hamza. Their were instrumental in helping Hamza over the line; he received a total of 197 votes while 186 votes are required for a simple majority.

What happened next?

Following Hamza’s election, the PTI sent a declaration to Punjab Assembly Speaker Elahi declaring the 25 MPAs as defectors.

Subsequently, Elahi had sent the reference to the ECP, urging it to de-seat these lawmakers for defecting from the PTI by casting their votes in Hamza’s favour in violation of party directions.

Most of the 25 dissident MPAs tried to justify their action of voting in favour of Hamza by claiming that they had received no directives from the party. They raised procedural objections and claimed they never received any show-cause notices — a mandatory requirement.

On May 20, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) de-seated the 25 dissident MPAs, stating that they had defected from the party. Since these lawmakers were no longer members of the House, Hamza lost his majority.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court ordered the chief minister’s re-election to be held on July 22 (today).

Five MPAs for reserved seats were notified by the ECP on July 6, leaving 20 empty seats. By-elections for the 20 seats were held on July 17 (Sunday) in which the PTI routed the PML-N to bag 15 seats while the latter secured only four seats.

Since the by-election results, the government and opposition have flung allegations and counter-allegations at each other.

The term “horsetrading” has returned to the political discourse amid alleged attempts to woo each other’s MPAs ahead of the crucial CM vote.



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