The PTI on Thursday disputed the number of votes garnered by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during the vote of confidence, saying the premier had lost the trust of parliament as 20 votes were cast by their dissident members, while terming the victory a “big defeat” for the premier and the coalition government of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).
Earlier in the day, PM Shehbaz had taken vote of confidence from the National Assembly with 180 lawmakers reposing “full confidence” in him.
The unexpected move came days after Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb denied that the prime minister had decided to take a vote of confidence from parliament.
The resolution for the vote of confidence moved by Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, stated: “The National Assembly of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan reposes its full confidence in the leadership of Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, as the Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.”
Responding to the development, PTI Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry claimed that the premier had lost the confidence of the House, as 20 lawmakers, who voted in his favour, were disgruntled legislators of the PTI.
“(PM) Shehbaz Sharif has lost confidence of the majority of members [of parliament]. Vote of 20 members of the assembly cannot be counted in the prime minister’s favour as they belong to the PTI. Therefore, Shehbaz Sharif gained the support of only 160 members instead of 172,” the PTI leader tweeted.
“Today’s vote (of confidence) is a big defeat for Shehbaz Sharif and PDM,” he continued.
The National Assembly has a total of 342 seats and a party needs at least 172 votes to form the government.
PTI Chairman Imran Khan was ousted from the office of premier through a vote of no-confidence on April 9 last year.
Following the development, all PTI lawmakers resigned en masse before the scheduled voting began for electing a new prime minister, except the 20 dissident party members.
Also read: PM Shehbaz wins surprise vote of confidence in NA
Eventually, the dissident MNAs' votes were not needed in Imran's removal, as the opposition managed to gather together support from government-allied political parties.
The PTI then sent references against the dissident members to the Election Commission of Pakistan, seeking their disqualification for violating party discipline and defecting. However, the election supervisor decided against de-seating them and dismissed the references.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Thursday took a dig at the PTI leaders, saying they lacked mathematical skills, and clarified that the number of votes for PM Shehbaz would have been 181 if the speaker had also cast his vote.
Today, neither was there any RTS (Result Transmission System), nor any secret ballot or any hidden cameras were found, he said.
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