Ruckus in Punjab Assembly ahead of chief minister's election

By Muhammad JuniadPublished On 06 Jan 2023

• Punjab Assembly session was scheduled to take place at 11:30am.
• Hamza Shahbaz, Pervez Elahi contenders for slot.
• Opposition had elected Hamza as CM in symbolic session.

LAHORE: Ruckus took place Saturday at the Punjab Assembly before the already delayed session to elect the province's new chief minister could begin formally.

PTI members caused a ruckus in the house when they brought "lotas" to the house and started chanting "lota, lota" (turncoats) as they lashed out at dissident PTI MPAs who have to part ways with the party and decided to support the Opposition.

The session was scheduled to start at 11:30am, but it has not started yet.

The session for election for the new chief minister of Punjab will take place on the orders of the Lahore High Court (LHC) — between Hamza Shahbaz and Chaudhry Pervez Elahi.

Deputy Speaker Sardar Dost Muhammad Mazari, who is set to chair the session, was attacked by ruling PTI's lawmakers when he arrived to formally begin the session.

A tough competition is expected between the two candidates Hamza Shahbaz and Parvez Elahi. Hamza is the joint candidate of PML-N and other coalition parties, while PML-Q's Elahi is being backed by PTI.

The April 16 session is being held in line with the LHC's Wednesday order, wherein it rejected Hamza's plea to hold the early elections and restored the powers of the deputy speaker.

The deputy speaker whose powers were withdrawn last week was asked by the court to hold the election on April 16.

The CM's office has been vacant for nearly two weeks since ex-governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar — who was removed from his position last week accepted Usman Buzdar's resignation on April 1.

In a symbolic session of the provincial assembly, the Opposition elected PML-N leader Hamza as the chief minister after Speaker Elahi sealed off the Punjab Assembly on April 6.

The joint opposition has claimed to have the support of 200 members and is confident of winning the CM election. In the house of 371, Hamza Shahbaz needs the support of 186 members to become the chief minister.

'Intentions not clear'

In a conversation with journalists after reaching the assembly, Elahi said despite being the speaker, he was not the custodian of the house today as he is a contender for the chief minister's slot.

"Time will prove whether the deputy speaker was honest or not [...] we will try to hold a transparent election today," Elahi said, adding he knows from where Dost Mohammad Mazari is taking instructions and will share details at the right time.

He said that some people did not have clear intentions and claimed to have the numbers for winning the election.

'Free and fair election’

Meanwhile, Deputy Speaker Mazari said he would conduct today's election in line with the rules as he maintained that if any member of the Punjab Assembly tried to disrupt the session, he would not come under pressure.

"The election will be free and fair [...] the election will take place today and the result would also be announced today," Mazari told reporters.

The deputy speaker said both sides the Opposition and the treasury would attempt to delay the election, but he vowed to hold the polls in a "good manner".

He also noted that dissident members from any party will be allowed to cast their votes today.