LAHORE: The issue of nominating the caretaker chief minister of Punjab was forwarded to the parliamentary committee for a decision on Wednesday, it emerged.
Following the dissolution of the Punjab Assembly, the government and opposition expedited consultations to form a caretaker set-up in the province.
Speaker provincial assembly will form a six-member committee, comprising three members each from the government and the opposition.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has proposed three names to represent the opposition the committee formed by the Speaker Punjab Assembly for the appointment of Caretaker Chief Minister.
In a letter issued, Hamza Shahbaz being the Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly (since dissolved), has forwarded the names of Malik Ahmad Khan, Malik Nadeem Kamran and Syed Hassan Murtaza as committee members to discuss the caretaker chief minister.Â
Following the dissolution of the Punjab Assembly, the government and opposition expedited consultations to form a caretaker set-up in the province.
If the matter is not resolved in the parliamentary committee, the issue of the nomination of Punjab’s caretaker chief minister will be sent to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for a final decision.
In 2018, the ECP had nominated Hassan Askari, a professor, to lead the caretaker setup in the province before the election.
The Punjab Assembly dissolved on Thursday as per the Constitution, 48 hours after the chief minister forwarded the summary of dissolution, regardless of the governor’s decision.
A snap local election will be held in the province after Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, the chief minister and an ally of former prime minister Imran Khan, triggered the poll, putting pressure on the government ahead of the general election.
Holding local elections in a province with 110 million people, around half of Pakistan’s population, would be an expensive, logistically complicated exercise for a government dependant on foreign aid and reeling from the impact of last year’s devastating floods.
By bringing forward a local poll, political analysts say it could pressure the national government into holding a countrywide election earlier to avoid the huge double cost of two votes.
Khan has been demanding general elections since he was ousted in April after losing a parliamentary vote of confidence. He has also led nationwide protests against his successor, Shehbaz Sharif.
