Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry on Saturday said that PTI would ask Punjab Chief Minister Parvez Elahi to take a vote of confidence from the provincial assembly “immediately,” adding that the date of the assembly session would be announced after consultation with the Pakistan Muslim League Quaid (PML-Q) leadership.
Talking to the media in Lahore, the former information minister said that his party was ready to hold elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
The Lahore High Court (LHC) had, a day earlier, reinstated Elahi as the chief minister after the PML-Q leader — a strong ally of Khan — assured it that he would not dissolve the assembly once restored to office.
Fawad said that a delegation of the PTI will soon hold talks with Chief Minister Parvez Elahi and Moonis Elahi in this regard. “We will decide the date to call the assembly session to give a vote of confidence to the chief minister so that the dissolution of the assembly can be made possible.”
Fawad said that PTI’s 177 provincial assembly members are backing CM Elahi in addition to the 10 PML-Q members. “In total, we have 187 provincial assembly lawmakers, excluding the speaker,” he said, adding that “all these people will give a vote of confidence to CM Elahi.”
Earlier this week, Fawad said that Governor Punjab’s notification to de-notify Parvez Elahi as Punjab chief minister was unconstitutional and the court order had nullified it.
Addressing the media in Lahore right after the court’s decision, Fawad said that the provincial assemblies would be dissolved, after all, noting that the chief minister had delayed the dissolution until the next hearing, which is due on January 11, 2023.
The governor, according to the PTI leader, went over and beyond and breached the Constitution, said Punjab Assembly Speaker Sibtain Khan.
As MPs on the treasury and opposition benches appeared to be at odds about who will get the CM’s Office and who will take over next, the political crisis in Punjab does not appear to be resolved anytime soon.
The governor, a PML-N member, had instructed the chief minister to hold a vote of confidence at 4 p.m. on December 21 in an effort to remove him.
Speaker of the Punjab Assembly Sibtain Khan criticized the order as being against the Constitution and called off today’s session until Friday. In response, the governor disagreed with the speaker and rejected his reasoning for not summoning a session. He added that the ruling has “no bearing” on the order to hold a session for the confidence vote.
