The Opposition in Punjab Assembly (PA) submitted a no-confidence motion against Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi in the late hours of Monday.
The magic number required to show majority in the assembly is 186 with Elahi seemingly ahead in numbers. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has the support of 180 members while Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) has the backing of its 10 members, taking the government alliance in Punjab to a total of 190 Members of the Provincial Assembly (MPAs).
Apart from Elahi, a separate no-trust motion was also submitted against PA Speaker Sibtain Khan and Deputy Speaker Wasiq Qayyum Abbasi.
Legally, a submitted resolution would bar the chief minister from dissolving the assembly until the motion is voted upon.
Immediately, after the submission of the no-trust motion, Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman directed the chief minister to seek a vote of confidence from the assembly on December 21 (tomorrow).
In an order, shared by the PML-N on its Twitter handle, the governor said that the chief minister has “lost the confidence of his party president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and members of his own party belonging to the PML-Q.”
“It is widely known that over the last few weeks serious differences of opinion erupted between two coalition parties of the ruling alliance in the Punjab Assembly i.e. PTI and PML-Q regarding political strategies, dissolution of the assembly, development schemes, and transfers of public officials,” it stated.
The order also highlighted that the CM had said earlier that he is not going to dissolve the provincial assembly until March 2023 “a position which is completely at odds with the PTI’s public opinion on the issue.”
The order also referred to CM Elahi’s recent criticism of Imran Khan regarding Khan’s negative comments on ex-Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa.
On Saturday, Khan announced December 23 as the date for the dissolution of the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) assemblies. However, with this new development, a delay may be expected now.
