LAHORE: In dramatic scenes in Punjab, a crucial session of the provincial assembly to elect the new chief minister was delayed on Saturday following chaos inside the House as MPs from the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) came face to face.
The session, where the members of the House will vote to elect the new provincial chief executive, will be chaired by Deputy Speaker Dost Muhammad Mazari.
Slogans were chanted by both the parties, while PTI lawmakers threw lotas at the opposition benches.
A tough competition is expected between the two candidates — PML-N vice president Hamza Shehbaz and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) Pervaiz Elahi who is backed by PTI.
The session is being held in line with an earlier Lahore High Court (LHC) order wherein it had rejected Shehbaz’s plea to hold the elections early and restored the powers of the deputy speaker.
The deputy speaker — whose authority was withdrawn by the speaker last week — was asked by the court to hold the polls on April 16.
The 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.
With 183 members, the PTI holds a majority in the 371-seat assembly. Any party needs the support of 186 members​​ to form a government.
Chief Minister Buzdar, from the PTI, stepped down as former prime minister Imran Khan nominated Elahi, the head of coalition partner PML-Q, as the new chief executive of the province.
In return, the PML-Q, which has five seats in the National Assembly pledged support for Khan against the no-trust motion which he lost.
Elahi, who served as the Punjab chief minister from 2002 to 2007, is currently the provincial assembly speaker.
