In a shock result, PML-Q’s PTI-backed candidate Parvez Elahi has lost the Punjab chief minister’s election to PML-N’s Hamza Elahi, after Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Dost Mohammad Mazari ruled that PML-Q members’ votes will not be counted in the election of Punjab chief minister in light of party head Chaudhry Shujaat’s letter.
According to Mazari, Hamza received 179 votes whereas Elahi garnered 176 votes, but only after 10 votes of Elahi’s own party were not counted, which turned the tables in Hamza’s favour.
While announcing the result, Mazari read Shujaat’s letter out loud. “As party head of Pakistan Muslim League, I have issued directions to all my provincial members to cast their votes in favour of Muhammad Hamza Shehbaz Sharif,” Mazari quoted Hussain as saying.
The deputy speaker’s ruling was countered by PTI MPA Raja Basharat, who argued that as per the law, the parliamentary party is authorised to issue instructions to party members.
“The head of the parliamentary party is Parvez Elahi,” he contended.
However, Mazari maintained that the matter had been clarified by the Supreme Court, subsequently proroguing the session.
While the voting was underway inside the House, unconfirmed reports were circulating outside that PML-Q Chairperson Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain had written a letter distancing himself from Elahi’s candidacy.
The development comes a day after PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari met Shujaat. Earlier, in response to reports that PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari had asked Shujaat to write a letter instructing PML-Q MPAs not to vote for Elahi, Shujaat said there was “no question” of issuing a letter.
Geo News journalist Hamid Mir quoted PML-Q’s Moonis Elahi as saying that Shujaat had refused to back Parvez as PTI’s candidate. Soon after, however, Moonis tweeted that a joint parliamentary meeting of PML-Q and PTI had unanimously agreed upon Parvez as their candidate for the election.
Addressing these reports, PTI leader Hammad Azhar said that the law was very clear. “It states that members can only follow the instructions of the parliamentary party, not the party leader.”
