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Tag: Punjab Assembly

  • Will Punjab select its new CM today?

    Will Punjab select its new CM today?

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) moved the Supreme Court (SC) to challenge Lahore High Court’s verdict to recount the votes cast in the Punjab Chief Minister (CM) elections excluding the votes that were cast by 25 dissident PTI lawmakers.

    The SC accepted PTI’s plea for an immediate hearing earlier in the day and formed a three-member bench. The hearing is currently underway by the bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial.

    During the hearing, PTI’s lawyer Babar Awan requested to wait for seven days for the election process. To this, the court questioned, “Do you want Punjab to remain without a Chief Minister for seven days?”

    Moreover, the apex court has directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to send notice to five reserved seats. As in the petition, PTI pointed out that lawmakers on five reserved seats in the Punjab Assembly had still not been notified in accordance with the LHC’s earlier directives.

    PTI leader and former federal minister Fawad Chaudhry announced the development on his Twitter handle. He said, “An appeal has been filed in the SC against the decision of the LHC. It is hoped that the SC will hold a hearing today in view of this crisis and the session of the Punjab Assembly will be adjourned.”

    The petitioners urged the court to remove Hamza as CM and requested to issue directives for holding a “free and fair” election for the post of the province’s chief executive. Moreover, they requested the court to suspend the election process till the pendency of their petition.

    In the petition, the party also said that some of their Members of Provincial Assembly (MPAs) are currently not in Pakistan as they have gone to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj. The party also argued that many PTI and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) members are busy with political campaign in their constituencies for the upcoming by-elections in Punjab.

    The magic number required to show the majority is 186. According to the verdict of the LHC, after recounting the votes today (Friday), the tally of the incumbent CM Hamza Shehbaz will come down to 172 votes after the exclusion of 25 votes of PTI dissident MPAs. The session will take place today at 4pm as per the LHC order.

    ‘Going to Supreme Court over LHC decision on Punjab CM polls’: Imran Khan

    On Thursday, LHC accepted the appeals of PTI filed against the election of CM Hamza and ordered a recount of votes with the exclusion of the 25 defecting party members who voted for him.

    A five-member larger bench of the LHC headed by Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan announced the verdict.

    After the verdict, Former Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan said that the party would be going to the apex court tomorrow (Friday) and challenge the verdict.

    Verdict:

    As per the verdict, the votes will be recounted and the candidate securing a majority of votes will be declared the chief minister of Punjab.

    Article 130(4) of the Constitution of Pakistan governs the election of chief ministers, under which there is an obligation of a majority of 186 votes.

    Hamza will no longer be the chief minister if he doesn’t retain the required majority after the exclusion of 25 votes, while the second round of polls will be held as per Article 130(4) in case no one gets the majority after a recount.

    Reactions:

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Attaullah Tarar said that the PML-N is happy and content because it has the required numbers. He said that the PML-N has 177 votes, which means a majority of nine votes even if the dissidents’ votes are not counted.

    “The court neither nullified the previous elections nor ordered fresh elections,” Tarar said.

    The politician said that PTI is unable to understand what the verdict states “in English”.

    Meanwhile, PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry tweeted, “The decision of the High Court has further aggravated the political crisis in Punjab. There are many flaws in this decision.”

    Hamza Shehbaz was elected CM Punjab on April 16 with 197 votes, while PTI and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) candidate Pervaiz Elahi received no votes.

  • Lahore High Court considering holding Punjab CM elections again

    Lahore High Court considering holding Punjab CM elections again

    The Lahore High Court (LHC) is considering the polls for the Punjab chief minister’s (CM) slot again, the court remarked on Tuesday while hearing the case challenging CM Hamza Shehbaz’s election, reports Geo News.

    The court while hearing the arguments from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) counsel asked how a political crisis would be avoided if matters are taken back to the Punjab Assembly session on April 16 and polls are held again.

    “In this case, the same presiding officer will hold the polls who was on duty during the April 16 polling,” the court said.

    The court adjourned the hearing till 10am on June 29.

    Speaker Punjab Assembly Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi in his plea challenging Hamza’s election maintained that Hamza does not have the number of votes required to be elected as the chief minister in light of the Supreme Court’s order.

    Hamza was elected as chief minister of Punjab in a session of the Punjab Assembly in complete ruckus on April 16, 2022.

  • Rs720 million money laundering case: Moonis Elahi appears before FIA

    Rs720 million money laundering case: Moonis Elahi appears before FIA

    Former Federal Minister for Water Resources Moonis Elahi appeared before the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) after the agency filed a Rs720 million money laundering case against him.

    After his appearance, the former federal minister said the FIA gave him a questionnaire, claiming that its “purpose” was not to conduct an investigation but to arrest him.

    “The government did all this so attention could be diverted from the budget in the Punjab Assembly. If I tell the PML-N today that we will support you, all cases will end,” the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leader further said.

    He added that all information regarding his finances is available in his tax returns. According to Moonis Elahi, the FIA has not issued a notice till date but he would appear again if summoned.

    The investigation agency also arrested two of Elahi’s close associates – Nawaz Bhatti and Mazhar Iqbal – on the charges that both of them used to facilitate Elahi to embezzle money.

    After the case was filed, Moonis rushed to the FIA’s office on Wednesday night but he was told to appear the next morning.

    Prior to this, a special central court in Lahore dismissed Elahi’s pre-arrest bail plea in this case.

    ‘Will not abandon Imran Khan’: Moonis Elahi

    When the case was registered earlier, Moonis denied receiving any notice. He said, “I would have come to the FIA office if I had received the notice. I came to know about the FIR from the media. They have skipped a legal step.”

    Moonis said that he is coming to Lahore to appear before the FIA and they can arrest him if they want to.

    “The PML-N is at a loss to understand that it can pressure me to change my loyalty towards former premier and PTI chairman Imran Khan. We will not abandon Khan, come what may,” he said.

    Moonis added that he never heard of the two other persons named in the FIR. However, he admitted to investing in the Rahim Yar Khan (RYK) Sugar Mills, calling it his “declared investment”.

    What is the case?

    According to the FIA’s First Information Report (FIR), the case against Elahi was registered on Tuesday in which the state has been named as the complainant. The agency said that it has “solid evidence” against the PML-Q leader.

    According to media outlets, the FIA was also investigating suspicious transactions worth Rs250 million involving the PML-Q leader’s sugar mills. Moonis is a shareholder in Alliance Sugar Mills.

    According to the FIR, proceedings against Moonis under the Money Laundering Act started during former Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s tenure. Last year, Khan had tasked the FIA to investigate the sugar crisis throughout the country and find out who benefitted from it.

    Following this, FIA released a report claiming that some of Khan’s own party members and Moonis were among those who had allegedly gained from the sugar crisis in Pakistan.

  • An unusual day: two budget sessions to be held in Punjab today

    An unusual day: two budget sessions to be held in Punjab today

    Two separate budget sessions have been called in Punjab on Wednesday (today). Governor Punjab Balighur Rehman has called for a 2pm session at Aiwan-i-Iqbal while Speaker Punjab Assembly (PA) Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has called for a 1pm session at the provincial assembly.

    The session at Aiwan-i-Iqbal will be presided over by PA Deputy Speaker Dost Mohammad Mazari.

    According to news reports, Elahi has termed the session at Aiwan-i-Iqbal “illegal”.

    However, according to Geo News, legal experts say that session cannot be resumed when prorogued by the Governor, as he is the head of the province, and the Speaker cannot summon another session. Therefore, the session summoned by Governor Punjab is the legitimate one.

    Responding to the crisis, former federal minister Fawad Chaudhry said, “Even in the martial law governments, it was never said that the assembly would be subordinate to the administration. The PML-N and PPP alliance has done a strange thing today; the Ordinance issued by the Governor is a martial law proclamation.”

    Delay of budget session for two days

    For two days, the Assembly was unable to present the budget for the new fiscal year (2022-23). On Tuesday, when the PA proceedings could not continue, Governor Rehman cancelled the ongoing session and summoned another one, which has started. However, despite the Governor’s orders, Speaker Elahi declared that the session would continue.

    At that point, Chief Minister (CM) Hamza Shehbaz announced he would come up with another strategy to deal with the problem.

    On Monday, Speaker Elahi refused to conduct the budget session and demanded that the Inspector General of Police (IGP) should apologise to him for what took place on April 16 and withdraw all cases lodged against the PTI and Pakistan Muslim League- Quaid (PML-Q) members.

  • Session delayed, middle-finger: Punjab budget session full of drama

    Session delayed, middle-finger: Punjab budget session full of drama

    A day-long drama was witnessed in the Punjab Assembly on Monday as Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi refused to conduct the session and allow the provincial budget to be presented. The Punjab Assembly’s budget session for the fiscal year 2022-23 was postponed till 1pm today. 

    Elahi demanded that the inspector general of police (IGP) first tender an apology to him and that all cases lodged against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) workers and parliamentarians be withdrawn.

    The provincial cabinet had earlier approved the Punjab government’s first budget of more than Rs3.226 trillion for the next fiscal year.

    The budget session was scheduled to begin at 2pm yesterday (June 13) but it started after several hours of delay. Once it started, the Opposition benches protested the presence of Punjab government spokesperson Attaullah Tarar in the assembly, as he is not an MPA. 

    “We will not let the budget be presented till [Chief Minister] Hamza Shehbaz is present in the House, while the inspector-general and chief secretary are sitting in the gallery,” the Opposition said.

    Punjab Assembly Speaker Pervaiz Elahi demanded the guards escort Tarar out of the assembly and adjourned the session for 10 minutes.

    Elahi said that if Tarar was not out of the building within 10 minutes, he would adjourn the session till tomorrow.

    After the break, Tarar exited the assembly in “protest”. He also showed his middle finger before leaving the Punjab Assembly.

    He also ‘apologised’ for the incident on Twitter. “[The] speaker sent this force toward me to oust me from the house unconstitutionally. This attempt failed. I decided to leave the House in the interest of the public but as I was leaving expletives were used against me. In response, I turned to the opposition benches. If anyone was hurt by this, I am sorry. I was wrong,” he wrote.

  • PPP, PML-N decide to contest together in Punjab by-election

    PPP, PML-N decide to contest together in Punjab by-election

    Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) have decided to jointly contest the Punjab by-election which will be held on vacant seats of the Punjab Assembly (PA) next month.

    Punjab minister Attauallah Tarar confirmed the development to Dawn, saying, “The PML-N and PPP leadership agreed to jointly contest by-polls on 20 Punjab Assembly seats.”

    Earlier, PPP’s Chairperson Asif Ali Zardari and Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Hamza Shehbaz met on Tuesday in which other members of the parties also participated. The decision reportedly took place during the meeting.

    Zardari congratulated Hamza on assuming the CM’s office. According to The News, the two parties also discussed other issues related to cabinet expansion in Punjab and federal, water issues, petroleum prices, and the upcoming budget. Moreover, Zardari held a meeting to sort out his party’s differences with PML-N over desired ministries in Punjab.

    Currently, PPP has seven seats in the Punjab Assembly (PA) and they were promised four ministries and two adviserships. However, in the Punjab Cabinet, there are only two members of PPP, but they are inactive due to non-allocation of their portfolios.

    The polls will be on 20 vacant seats of the PA on July 17. The seats are vacant due to the disqualification of PTI’s Members of Provincial Assembly (MPAs) by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) who switched sides and voted for Hamza as CM.

    It is pertinent to mention that out of the 20 seats, eight are from southern Punjab where the PPP has a strong foothold.

  • Phadda between PML-Q’s Moonis Elahi, PTI’s Ejaz Chaudhry, exchange heated tweets

    Phadda between PML-Q’s Moonis Elahi, PTI’s Ejaz Chaudhry, exchange heated tweets

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and Senator Ejaz Chaudhry and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leader and former Minister for Water Resources Moonis Elahi exchanged some heated tweets when Chaudhry took a jibe at PML-Q’s Salik Hussain and Shafay Hussain, both of whom are Moonis’ cousins.

    According to a report by ARY News both Salik and Shafay met the incumbent Chief Minister (CM) Punjab Hamza Shehbaz and promised to support him. Chaudhry taunted them of being two-faced on Twitter.

    Moonis called out Chaudhry and said, “Just like during the Azadi March when some leaders went to the police station and presented themselves for arrests”.

    To this, Chaudhry clarified that he was not talking about Moonis as [Moonis] knows the difference between right and wrong. He further clarified that Moonis misinterpreted his tweet.

    Taking to Twitter, Moonis said, “Let’s not swing at each other. Our combined opponent is PML-N. Let’s stay focused.” He further apologised to the PTI leader.

    It is pertinent to mention that PTI and PML-Q have a real test ahead, in which they will have to fight the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) for vacant seats of the Punjab Assembly (PA).

  • Shafqat Mahmood resigns as Punjab PTI president because of ‘health issues’

    Shafqat Mahmood resigns as Punjab PTI president because of ‘health issues’

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and the former Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood resigned from his post as the party’s Punjab President on Friday because of health-related issues.

    In a tweet, Mahmood wrote: “It was an honour and privilege to serve as President PTI Punjab and I thank chairman Imran Khan for the opportunity. It is time for change due to my surgery and convalescence. I congratulate the new President and will serve the party in whatever capacity assigned.”

    According to Geo News, Vice-President Shah Mehmood Qureshi will look after the PTI Punjab President post. However, the names of Ejaz Chaudhry and Mian Mehmood ur Rasheed are under consideration for the post.

    After the PTI’s Azadi March, Shafqat Mahmood remained hospitalised and underwent surgery.

    It is pertinent to mention that PTI Punjab leadership remained under extreme criticism as they were unable to put up a solid power show in Islamabad.

    The news has come forward at a time when PTI has a real test ahead, in which it will have to fight the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) for 20 vacant seats of the Punjab Assembly (PA).


  • Elections for 20 de-seated Punjab Assembly seats to be held on July 17: ECP

    Elections for 20 de-seated Punjab Assembly seats to be held on July 17: ECP

    The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced on Wednesday that the by-polls on the 20 vacant seats of the Punjab Assembly will be held on July 17.

    The date for the by-elections comes after the ECP on Monday de-notified the 25 PTI MPAs that it had de-seated over defection from the party for voting in favour of Hamza Shehbaz in the chief minister election. The decision to de-seat the 25 PTI dissidents came during the announcement of the verdict in a case pertaining to the dissident Members of the Punjab Assembly (MPAs).

    The ECP had issued official notifications for the cancellation of the dissidents’ election from respective constituencies of Punjab and seats reserved for women and non-Muslims.

    “Pursuant to the Order dated the 20 May 2022 passed by the Election Commission of Pakistan in case No. 13(1)/2022-Law, upon confirmation of the declarations under Article 63A(1)(b)(i) of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Election Commission of Pakistan hereby de-notify the following member’s Provincial Assembly of Punjab from the respective Constituencies, seats reserved for women, and non-Muslims in terms of Article 63A(4) of the Constitution,” the notification said.

  • Battle begins: Hamza Shehbaz refuses to step down after ECP decision

    Battle begins: Hamza Shehbaz refuses to step down after ECP decision

    Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Hamza Shehbaz has reportedly refused to step down from his position following the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to de-seat 25 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) dissident Member of Provincial Assembly (MPAs) who voted for Hamza.

    PTI says it will send the CM home through legal means in line with the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) and ECP’s decisions.

    “The game for the fake CM is over after de-seating of the 25 lotas (turncoats),” Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid’s (PML-Q) Moonis Elahi said. He added that after losing the majority in the House, Hamza has no moral or legal grounds to cling to the office.

    Moreover, the Opposition — PTI-PML-Q alliance — sees a run-off election in the coming days claiming Hamza cannot “illegally” hold the office for long.

    It is pertinent to mention that the allocation of five vacant reserved seats will assume an important role if the run-off election is held. According to legal experts, ECP will now distribute these seats as per the current strength of each party in the Punjab Assembly, which means if the PTI gets the most share, it may be able to get the CM post.

    Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said Hamza Shehbaz is not going to resign and still has a majority in the Punjab Assembly. Similarly, PML-N deputy secretary-general Attaullah Tarar said that the ECP’s decision has no impact on Hamza’s office.

    Tarar claimed the PML-N enjoys the support of 177 members in PA against 168 of the PTI-PML-Q combined. He also claimed the PML-N will get three of the five reserved seats, which would take its tally to 180.

    The PTI-PML-Q joint candidate for the CM’s slot and the current PA Speaker Chaudhry Parvaiz Elahi said, “I am Imran Khan’s candidate and after taking oath as the CM, I will dissolve the assemblies if he asks me.”

    The Punjab Assembly’s current strength is 346 members: PTI has 158 lawmakers, PML-Q has 10, PML-N 165, PPP seven, five independents, and one Rah-e-Haq Party.