The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) approached the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday to stop Hamza Shehbaz from working as the Punjab chief minister after the polls supervisor de-seated 25 dissident members of the Punjab Assembly (MPAs).
The PTI’s request came as the ECP issued notification for de-seating of the dissident MPAs – 20 on general seats, three on reserved seats for women and two on reserved seats for minorities. The notification was issued after approval from Chief Election Commission (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja.
Last Friday, the ECP ordered the de-seating of the dissident MPAs under Article 63-A of the Constitution for voting against the party line in the election of the chief minister. The decision was announced on a reference sent to it by the Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi.
“Deciding on the reference, the election commission has terminated the membership of 25 dissident members,” PTI’s counsel Faisal Chaudhry wrote in a letter to the CEC. “Hamza Shahbaz has lost the majority in the Punjab Assembly after the decision of the election commission,” it added.
The votes of the 25 dissident PTI lawmakers were instrumental in the election of Hamza Shehbaz, a candidate of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), who got 197 votes in the 371-strong house. For the election of the chief minister, the candidate needs at least 186 votes.
Read: PML-N, allies' parliamentary session passes resolution of confidence in CM Hamza
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court had ruled that the votes of dissident lawmakers would not be counted. The ruling came as a shot in the arm of the former ruling party that is poised to take a big leap to the federal capital.
The judgment is thought to have dealt a big blow to the PML-N’s calculations in the country’s political heartland – Punjab – with the fate of the newly elected chief minister hanging in the balance and throwing the matter into a new period of uncertainty and seeding further confusion about the outcome.
Following the ECP notification, by-election would be held on the 20 vacant general seats, while new members would be nominated on the reserved seats. In the letter to the CEC the PTI proposed five names for nomination in place of the vacant reserved seats.
“The PTI has also sent five names for the reserved seats,” the letter said, requesting the CEC to notify Batool Janjua, Saira Raza and Fauzia Abbas as MPAs on reserved seats for women and Habkook Gul and Samuel Yaqub on the reserved seats for minorities.
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