The continued defection

Defections from the PML-N continue even after the elections. In what threatens to have a contagious effect, 15 Punjab Assembly members ditched the former ruling party and voted for Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, the PTI candidate for Speaker. A total of 354 MPAs cast their votes in the election. Elahi was expected to receive 185 votes, including 10 from the PML-Q, whereas Iqbal Gujar, the PML-N candidate, was expected to get 162 votes. But as the result of the secret ballot was out, Elahi had emerged victorious with 201 votes while Gujar ended up getting 147 votes — 15 less than expected.

Hence, the Punjab Assembly is not a hung house. The PTI, PML-Q coalition is pretty clear of the simple majority in the 371-strong assembly, and may even go on to clinch two-thirds strength, given the apprehensions that the forward block of 15 will grow in numbers, depleting the PML-N’s parliamentary power further. The unexpected outcome of the voting for the Speakership forced the PML-N parliamentary party into a huddle, with the members doing nothing else than casting suspicious eyes on one another. The secret ballot ensured that the defectors remain a mystery. The Deputy Speaker’s election though got delayed for a couple of hours as PML-N legislators raised a vociferous protest in the house levelling allegations of horse-trading against the PTI.

Came compounding the PML-N troubles was its growing rift with the PPP over a joint opposition candidate to fight Imran Khan in the Prime Minister’s election being held today. Having earlier agreed to vote for whosoever is appointed by the PML-N as the prime ministerial candidate, the PPP has suddenly realised that Shehbaz Sharif’s verbal salvos from the past — during the 2013 election campaign — against Asif Ali Zardari are unacceptable, and that the party cannot vote for ‘such a bad-mouthing’ candidate. With the PML-N sticking to Shehbaz as their candidate for the Leader of the House, the PPP has finally decided to abstain. While a divided opposition may not have a decisive impact on the big vote in the lower house today, its implications in case of the upper house may bring about key changes.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 17^th, 2018.

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