Lahore: To find out who will be the next Chief Minister in Punjab, Governor Punjab Chaudhry Sarwar has called a session of the Punjab assembly after he accepted Usman Buzdar’s resignation on Friday. Speaker Punjab Assembly Chaudhry Pervez Elahi will compete with Opposition Leader and joint opposition candidate Humza Shehbaz for the slot of next CM Punjab.
To secure the chair of the next CM Punjab, each side needs to get at least 186 lawmakers’ votes in the 371-member house.
The PTI camp, now led by PMLQ Punjab president Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, entered into deep consultations and manoeuvrings with MPAs across the political divide. The ruling coalition camp was buzzing with activities ranging from meeting the visitors, calling different lawmakers and seeking time for PMLQ’s top leadership visit for their assured support.
The PTI and PMLQ also held their joint parliamentary meeting at the chief minister’s secretariat and showed a strength of over 150 MPAs, which included those belonging to the PML-N.
The disgruntled factions of the ruling PTI, better known as the Jahangir Tareen and Chheena groups, are being considered a decisive factor in the Punjab chief executive’s election.
The Chheena group, with 14 MPAs, announced its support for the candidature of Parvez Elahi as chief minister after Mr Elahi personally visited them at group leader Ghazanfar Abbas Chheena’s residence.
In the meantime, the PMLN called its MPAs in its party secretariat as the senior leadership of the opposition is consulting the Jahangir Tareen group for its support. The opposition had already hinted not to offer the top office to the Jahangir Tareen group on Friday evening.
Total numbers in Punjab Assembly
In the 371-member Punjab Assembly, the PTI has 183 lawmakers, PML-Q 10, PML-N 165, PPP 7, five are independent and one belongs to Rah-i-Haq.
