ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s federal government has decided to “seal” the office of Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi if he fails to take the vote of confidence from the provincial assembly on Wednesday, local media reported, citing the country’s Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah. 

Punjab Governor Baligh-ur-Rehman, referring to Article 130 (7) of the constitution, on Monday asked CM Elahi to take a vote of confidence from the Punjab Assembly and convened a session of the assembly on Wednesday. 

The development came days after former prime minister Imran Khan announced he would dissolve the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial assemblies on December 23 to pressure the government into announcing nationwide snap polls. Elahi’s Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) party is a key Khan ally in the Punjab province. 

But Punjab Assembly Speaker Sibtain Khan, a member of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, has declared the summoning of the session by the Punjab governor “illegal,” according to local media reports. Under the Pakistani constitution, a no-confidence motion moved against a chief minister prevents them from dissolving the assembly. 

“Punjab CM House will be sealed if Chaudhry Parvez Elahi does not take the vote of confidence or the assembly session does not take place,” Pakistan’s Geo News channel quoted Sanaullah as telling reporters in Lahore on Tuesday. 

Sanaullah said the governor has the power to convene the provincial assembly session and Elahi will have to take the vote even if the provincial assembly session is not held. 

“Elahi will lose the chief ministership if he does not take the trust vote,” he added. 

Khan, who was ousted in a parliamentary no-trust vote in April, has since been campaigning for early elections across the country and agitating against the government of PM Shehbaz Sharif. 

Khan’s PTI party controls two of the country’s four provincial assemblies, while the other two are controlled by his political opponents, who are also in power in the center. The federal government says it will not hold polls before they are due in November 2023. 

Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, a close Khan aide, said on Tuesday the ruling coalition had submitted the no-trust resolution against Elahi to evade elections. 

Hussain said the no-trust move would not succeed, adding the Punjab CM would dissolve the assembly and the “decision of the nation will be final.”