LAHORE: The voting in the Punjab Assembly will be held on Sunday to elect new leader of the house following Usman Buzdar’s resignation.
Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi on Saturday presided over the session which was held after four hours delay amid sloganeering from both opposition and treasury benches. The session was subsequently adjourned till Sunday.
Nomination papers for the slot of chief minister had been submitted in the office of the assembly secretary. The voting process would be carried out through the parliamentary mode of open division of the house.
Hamza Shehbaz is a candidate for the chief ministership of the joint opposition while Prime Minister Imran Khan had nominated Pervaiz Elahi for the slot.
The assembly secretariat had issued standard operating procedures for the assembly business. As per the agenda, the entry of the guests along with the members of the assembly is banned.
No member of the assembly is allowed to take cell phone inside the house and the same would be handed over to the security while women members are also not allowed to take their handbags inside the house as they would submit the same to the security.
The members had been directed to bring their CNICs and assembly cards with them on the day of voting.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Imran Khan had offered the position of Punjab chief minister to Pervez Elahi, following his party’s decision to support the ruling coalition in the face of the no-trust move against the premier.
Former Punjab chief minister Usman Buzdar had tendered his resignation to PM Imran after the joint opposition submitted a no-trust motion against Buzdar in the provincial assembly, citing “poor performance”.
JKT group announces support for Hamza:
While addressing a press conference alongside Hamza, Punjab MPA Nauman Langrial formally announced Jahangir Khan Tareen (JKT) group’s support for the PML-N scion for the Punjab chief ministry.
He said the group — which comprises PTI dissidents — made its decision based on “honesty, sincerity and for the country’s sake”, adding that the group hoped Hamza would serve the province well.
Langrial said the group would “fully support” Hamza but also point out any “wrongdoings and also try to stop them”.
The JKT group leader lashed out at outgoing chief minister Buzdar, alleging that he had promoted corruption and damaged the PTI.
In reply to a question, Langrial said that there was no “deal” behind the Tareen group’s decision to support Hamza.
“We have not discussed any demands or positions [with them]. None of us has demanded any seat,” he said.
Hamza, meanwhile, thanked the Tareen group for showing confidence in his leadership as well as that of Shehbaz Sharif and Nawaz Sharif.
In the 371-member Punjab Assembly, the PTI has 183 lawmakers, PML-Q 10, PML-N 165, PPP seven, five are independent and one belongs to Rah-i-Haq.
