Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has decided to send a reference against 20 estranged PTI lawmakers in Punjab Assembly to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) under floor crossing charges.
According to sources privy to the development, the reference would be handed over by the chief whip of the PTI Abbas Ali Shah to Speaker Punjab Assembly Parvez Elahi. “After speaker’s approval, the reference will be send to the ECP where the commission is bound to decide on it within a month,” they said.
PTI lawmakers who voted in favour of Hamza Shehbaz for the chief minister’s slot will be in hot waters after the reference. They included Aleem Khan, Asad Khokhar, Nauman Langrial, Ejaz Alam, Ajmal Cheema, Saeed Akbar, Faisal Jawana, Zawar Warraich and other PTI MPAs. The reference will however not be applicable on independent candidates Chaudhry Nisar, Ahmed Ali, Jugnu Mohsin, Bilal Asghar Warraich, Raja Sagheer and others.
The sources said that the PML-N has decided against giving any government post or ministry in the provincial cabinet following decision to send a reference against them. It is pertinent to mention here that Hamza Shehbaz was elected Chief Minister Punjab during a Punjab Assembly session that saw unprecedented violence resulting in attacks on Speaker Parvez Elahi and Deputy Speaker Dost Mohammad Mazari. Dissident lawmakers of the PTI, who were part of Jahangir Tareen and Aleem Khan groups, played a key part in the election of the PML-N leader.
