ISLAMABAD: Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi is expected to seek a vote of confidence from the provincial assembly “at any time” after his Pakistan Muslim League (PML) faction and its coalition partner Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party claimed he had the requisite numbers to secure the vote.
The development came hours after the Lahore High Court (LHC) extended the “interim relief” after reinstating Elahi as chief minister until Jan. 12, adding that the chief minister could not dissolve the assembly until 9am tomorrow.
Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan, who is also the top PTI leader, wants the chief minister to prove his majority in the house before dissolving the assembly to put the federal government under pressure to call early elections in the country.
Elahi requires to secure the support of at least 186 lawmakers in the 341-member house to win the vote of confidence.
“Thank God, the number of 187 is complete,” PTI senior vice president Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said in a Twitter post on Wednesday. In another tweet, he claimed that as per the directives of the court, the chief minister could seek the vote of confidence “at any time.”
“For weeks the PML-N was demanding we show 186 lawmakers,” he continued. “Now when the time has come to show the numbers, why are they running.”
The Punjab ruling coalition, including the PTI and PML parties, are planning to show their strength in the house. Currently, their separate parliamentary party meetings are underway in the provincial assembly to finalize their strategy for the vote of confidence.
In the Punjab Assembly, the PTI is the majority party with 180 lawmakers while its coalition partner PML has 10 members in the house. The ruling coalition now claims to have garnered support of an independent lawmaker as well to ensure a successful voting process.
The opposition alliance, including PML-N and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), have 167 and seven lawmakers in the house, respectively. There are five independent lawmakers and one of Pakistan Rah-e-Haq party who are aligned with the opposition.
The Punjab Assembly session is scheduled to resume its proceedings shortly after a dinner break for 30 minutes.
