Can CM Parvez Elahi ‘regain trust’ of assembly?

LAHORE _ Punjab Assembly Speaker Sibtain Khan on Tuesday called Governor Balighur Rehman’s move for calling a fresh session of the provincial assembly illegal.

Tussle between the government and the opposition continues to deepen since PTI Chairman Imran Khan announced dissolution of the assemblies in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Dec 23, with the PML-N and allies deliberating on ways to prevent the move. A day earlier, the Punjab governor issued an order, calling a fresh session of the provincial assembly and requiring Chief Minster Parvez Elahi to obtain a vote of confidence. The governor said Mr Elahi had lost confidence of PML-Q head Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and party members, adding that there were also reports of confrontation between the PTI and PML-Q at various issues.

The Punjab Assembly speaker is of the view that the governor cannot call a fresh session when the previous one is already going on. The ongoing session was called by the speaker and it could not be ended by the governor, he stressed. He said the Assembly Secretariat would not issue a gazette notification of the fresh session called by the governor on Dec 21.

After Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman asked Punjab Chief Minister Parvez Elahi to seek a vote of confidence from the assembly, the number game in the Punjab Assembly is once again in the spotlight.

The chief minister needs the magic number of 186 in the 371-strong House to show majority and thwart PML-N’s attempt to remove him from the office. The PTI-PML-Q alliance has a total of 190 votes (180 + 10). On the other hand, the opposition alliance has the support of 180 lawmakers, including 167 from the PML-N, seven from the PPP, five independent lawmakers, and one from the Rah-i-Haq Party.

However, Punjab Assembly Speaker Sibtain Khan has suspended 18 PML-N members and banned them from attending at least 15 assembly sessions but, sources claim, that rules of procedure allow the suspended lawmakers to cast their votes.

Earlier on Monday, Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman had asked Mr Elahi to seek a vote of confidence from the assembly on Dec 21. In an order, shared by the PML-N on Twitter, the governor said the chief minister had “lost the confidence of his party president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and members of his own party belonging to the PML-Q”.

“It is widely known that over the last few weeks serious differences of opinion erupted between two coalition parties of the ruling alliance in the Punjab Assembly i.e. PTI and PML-Q regarding political strategies, dissolution of the assembly, development schemes, and transfers of public officials,” it stated.