Setback for Hamza Sharif’s rival candidate in Punjab

Islamabad: The election for the office of Punjab Chief Minister turned out to be a nightmare for the joint candidate of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi.

PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain directed his 10 Members of the Punjab Assembly (MPAs) to stay away from voting for Pervaiz Elahi who is also his party’s senior leader and cousin.

Currently, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is in power in Punjab and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s son Hamza Shehbaz is the chief minister of the province.

Shujaat Hussain, in a letter delivered to the Deputy Speaker of the Punjab Assembly Dost Muhammad Mazari, who was the presiding officer in the run-off elections made it clear that his party would not support Pervaiz Elahi as Imran Khan’s candidate.

Chaudhry Shujaat’s last-minute change of heart is attributed to Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader and former President Asif Ali Zardari’s recent visits to Shujaat’s residence.

Zardari succeeded in convincing Shujaat at the last minute to stay away from voting against Hamza Shehbaz.

“Party position”

After the July 17 by-elections on 20 seats in Punjab Assembly (371 seats) the numerical strength of the each party in the Punjab Assembly is as follows:

PTI: 177

PML-N: 167

PPP: 7

PML-Q: 10

Independents: 6

Since the PML-Q has ten seats in the Punjab Assembly, these ten votes could play key role for the two rival parties - the PTI and the PML-N - vying for the seat of the chief executive in the province.

According to the Supreme Court’s verdict if a member of a party goes against the directions of the party head, he/she will cease to be the member of the assembly and moreover his/her vote will not be counted.

“Run-off election held on Supreme Court order”

The July 22 run-off elections in the Punjab Assembly were held on the directions of the Supreme Court and according to that if a candidate fails to get the required 186 seats in the 371-member house, inhouse election (run off) election will be held and whoever wins the number of majority votes in the house will be the winning candidate.

Under the new scenario, even Pervaiz Elahi cannot vote himself against his party chairman’s direction, the constitutional experts viewed.

Even if the PML-Q members vote against the party’s head the final decision will be with Deputy Speaker of the Punjab Assembly, they said.