Hamza secured 179 votes, Pervaiz Elahi received 186 votes
Amraz Khan Lahore
Hamza Shahbaz Sharif on Friday finally succeeded to win the seat of Chief Minister Punjab with the active help of Ch. Shujaat, the brother of Ch. Pervaiz Elahi.
Interestingly the election for the leader of the house was held between Ch Pervaiz Elahi and sitting Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz in the Punjab Assembly chamber.
Although Ch Pervaiz Elahi secured 186 votes against Hamza Shehbaz who bagged 179 votes but no sooner, the counting was completed, the Chair of the House Dost Muhammad Mazari Deputy Speaker announced the results stating that he got a letter from PML-Q President Ch Shujaat Hussain for considering his legislators’ votes for Hamza Shehbaz.
However, the Chair added that the 10 votes of the PML-Q legislators have been rejected legally. So, he declared that the opposition received a total of 176 votes against Hamza Shehbaz. The announcement sparked anger among the PTI parliamentarians and the PTI lawmaker Raja Basharat made harsh arguments with the Deputy Speaker about the validity of the latter’s ruling. He was of the view that Ch. Shujaat was not authorized to issue such instructions.
He asked the Deputy Speaker, “You are doing illegal by withdrawing the right of vote from even candidate of the elections. The opposition lawmaker can move court if they have any objection, the chair said.
Following the orders of the Supreme Court, Deputy Speaker Sardar Dost Muhammad Mazari conducted the election. The Punjab Assembly’s Friday session started two hours and 50 minutes behind schedule.
All the legislators belonging to the opposition parties, the PTI and the PML-Q, reached the House on time but the treasury members were late. Both the candidates, Hamza Shehbaz and Pervaiz Elahi were present in the House.
Before the session, some hard talks between the treasury and the opposition lawmakers were also observed outside of the House. The MPAs from both the opposition and treasury benches chanted slogans against each other.
Punjab Assembly session was started to seal the fate of sitting Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz at 6:50 PM on the orders of the Supreme Court on Friday (July 22).
Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz and his opponent candidate for the chief minister’s post Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi were present in the House. Deputy Speaker Sardar Dost Muhammad Mazari chaired the session and took an oath to the newly elected MPA Raja Sagheer in by-elections.
A good number of security guards in plain dresses were also present in the House to protect the Deputy Speaker from any unpleasant incident from the opposition. On a point of order, the ruling party’s Tahir Khalil Sindhu raised objections against the oath of PTI’s newly elected member Shabbir Gujar.
Later, the Deputy Speaker adjourned the session for Maghrib prayers and then restarted the proceedings.
As per the procedure of the CM Election announced, the treasury members and opposition legislators started passing through the separate doors to count their votes in favour of the candidates–Hamza Shehbaz and Pervaiz Elahi.
Meanwhile, minutes before the start of the polling for CM Punjab elections former prime minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said that he would not support the PTI chief Imran Khan-backed candidate for the CM slot.
The seasoned politician, Ch Shujaat, refused to back the PTI chief nominee for the slot of leader of the house.
On the eve of the CM election, Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) leaders Ch Parvaiz Elahi and his son Moonis Elahi met former prime minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain after the latter’s meeting with Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari.
