Political chaos in Punjab assembly continues as the rift between the ruling parties and opposition is still existing. The federal backed Governor Punjab, Baligh ur Rehman gave the ruling of the dismissal of Chief Minister Punjab Chaudhry Pervez Ilahi when the CM refused to take vote of confidence on the order of the Governor. The ruling side was of the view that as the session of the assembly was already continued so another session could not be summoned at the wish of the Governor. Therefore, the CM did not take the vote of confidence and the deadline date approached. After the deadline the Governor issued the order of the de-notification of the CM Punjab and ordered to dissolve the assembly. At that moment CM Punjab Chaudhry Pervez Ilahi took the case to the Lahore High Court (LHC) for challenging the decision of Governor. Since then the case is under discussion in the LHC.
On Wednesday, the issue came under discussion at LHC. Lahore High Court (LHC) Justice Asim Hafeez remarked on Wednesday that it was compulsory for a chief minister to have round-the-clock support from a majority of lawmakers in the house. He passed these remarks as a five-member bench comprising him, Justice Abid Aziz Shaikh, Justice Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal, Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh, and Justice Muzamil Akhtar Shabir took up Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi’s plea challenging Governor Balighur Rehman’s orders to de-notify him as the provincial chief executive.
Important developments regarding CM Punjab’s status during the hearing at LHC include, Lahore High Court extends “interim relief” of reinstating Elahi as chief minister till Jan 12; Court says chief minister can’t dissolve assembly until 9am today; LHC judge observes CM must have round-the-clock support of a majority of assembly members; Elahi rejects court’s offer of fixing a date for a vote of confidence; PML-N asserts Elahi can’t “run away” from trust vote; Elahi’s lawyer says governor’s order aimed at preventing assembly dissolution. The hearing has been adjourned for one day.
The struggle for power in Punjab is continued. The coalition government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League Q is currently having majoring in the assembly. But, still the ruling parties are not taking any pragmatic step to take vote of confidence. There are 180 seats of PTI in the Punjab Assembly and PML-Q is having 10 seats. One independent candidate in Punjab Assembly is also supporting the government. In this way total numbers in the hand of the government is 191 whereas 186 votes are required for making government in the province. One of the PTI’s Member of Punjab Assembly, Momina Waheed has announced not to support Chaudhry Pervez Ilahi in case of confidence vote. If CM Punjab decides to take vote of confidence then despite losing the support of Momina Waheed Chauhdry Pervez Ilahi is still having 190 votes. So, the majority is still in the hands of Chaudhry Pervez Ilahi. But, still the ruling government is not in the favor of taking vote of confidence which shows that there is something wrong in the bottom. Today is very important as the LHC will hear the case again and may take a final decision to rap up the mess which has been created in Punjab.
Published in Daily Country News, january 12th, 2023.