Much awaited and much discussed case of confidence vote in Punjab Assembly has reached to the logical end after a chaotic session of Punjab Assembly late night on Thursday. Chief Minister Punjab Chaudhry Pervez Ilahi received the vote of confidence from the members of the assembly. He successfully managed to get the 186 votes which were required as per the rules. Speaker Sibtain Khan, who presided the session, said that Elahi had received 186 votes — exactly the number required to retain his position and one less than 187 that PTI leaders had claimed to have prior to voting. Ahead of the voting, government and opposition lawmakers had renewed hostilities around the speaker’s dais and engaged each other in angry jostling. Shortly after, the opposition MPAs staged a boycott of the session and walked out. Outside the Punjab Assembly, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah labelled the session’s proceedings “against the rules and Constitution”, and accused the speaker of “bulldozing” the vote of confidence. Sanaullah and another PML-N leader Ata Tarar said that the vote of confidence will be challenged in the court.
The number game in Punjab assembly was being discussed at all the forums. The government was of the view that it has the required number but, the opposition parties kept on criticizing the government for delaying the vote of confidence. Opposition parties were of the view that Chaudhry Pervez Ilahi had lost the confidence of 186 members so he should get the vote of confidence to continue his office. Leaders of the opposition parties were eager for the confidence voting. But, when the CM Punjab Chaudhry Pervez Ilahi decided to take the vote of confidence the same leaders opposed the decision. Instead of sitting in the assembly comfortably to witness what they were demanding for a long time, the leaders of the opposition parties tried to disrupt the session through hooting and other such tactics. They even tried to attack the speaker during the session. At the end they decided to walk out from the hall. They came out and straightforwardly rejected the vote of confidence.
Hearing on the case was already continued in the Lahore High Court when the session took place. The hearing was scheduled for the next day. So, when CM Punjab successfully got the vote of confidence then the PML-N rejected the vote, but the very next day PML-N’s own Governor Punjab accepted the vote of confidence. When the development witnessed the hearing on the case was underway in the LHC. Resultantly, Lahore High Court (LHC) disposed of the petition challenging the governor’s order.
The discussion regarding confidence vote has come to its end by originating a new discussion. As the matter of confidence vote was unfolded due to the decision of Imran Khan for dissolving both the Punjab and KP assemblies so after the end of this mantra the discussion regarding dissolution of assemblies is getting the pace. Apparently it seems like Imran Khan will dissolve the assemblies soon, but when it comes to Punjab assembly there is again issues for PTI and its allied party PML-Q is not in the favor of dissolving the assembly promptly.
Published in Daily Country News, January 13th, 2023.