By Staff Reporter
LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi survived a confidence vote in the early hours of Thursday, after weeks of political turbulence in the country’s most populous province, paving the way for possible dissolution of the assembly on the instructions of ousted prime minister Imran Khan.
An official vote count showed 186 lawmakers voted in support of Elahi.
“There were 186 votes in favor of the resolution Chaudhry Parvez Elahi has received a vote of confidence from the House as Chief Minister of Punjab,” Elahi’s coalition partner and former prime minister Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party tweeted.
Khan, last month week, announced that he would seek to dissolve two provincial governments run by his party and coalition partners.
Khan’s PTI has governments in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa as well as in Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.
Ousted from the office of prime minister via a parliamentary vote in April last year, Khan has, since, refused to recognize the government of Prime Minister Sharif and campaigning for early elections. The coalition government is opposed to holding elections now. The term of the current National Assembly will end in August 2023.
Earlier Punjab Governor Baligur Rehman of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz party had sought a vote of confidence from Elahi last month in a bid to stop the dissolution of the assembly. He had de-notified Elahi and his cabinet for failing to comply with his order. However, the Lahore High Court restored Elahi and his cabinet.
The LHC on Wednesday remarked that the chief minister would have to take a trust vote. In light of the court’s observation, Elahi secured the required at around 1 am Thursday amid the opposition’s protest.
The opposition boycotted the session and announced challenging the trust vote procedure in the court.
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah claimed that the Punjab Assembly session’s proceedings were against the rules and constitution and the opposition would challenge them in the count.
He said Elahi secured 181 votes but showed it as 186. “We will prove this fraud in the court,” Sanaullah told reporters.
PTI senior leader Fawad Chaudhry said CM Elahi will send advice to the governor for dissolution of the assembly on the direction of party chief Khan. “This advice may be sent to the governor today if no hurdle arises because of the court hearing”.
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