Another constitutional and political crisis in Pakistan is headed towards the country’s Supreme Court this time over the chaotic voting for Punjab chief minister in the provincial assembly.
The vote was held on Friday to determine whether the province’s sitting chief minister — Hamza Sharif, the son of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif — enjoyed the backing of the majority of lawmakers in the local parliament.
In Friday’s vote, former prime minister Imran Khan’s candidate, Pervez Elahi, initially won 186 votes but the Punjab assembly’s deputy speaker, Dost Mohammad Mazari, invalidated 10 of those votes over violations of voting regulations.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party and its allies, including PML-Q, had hoped to form the new provincial government in Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province. The alliance had last Sunday won 15 out of 20 seats that were up for grabs in the 371-member assembly.
In a statement broadcast on national television, deputy speaker Mazari announced that 10 lawmakers from the Pakistan Muslim League headed by Shujaat Hussain, a Khan ally, had violated regulations by voting contrary to demands from their leader, Hussain, who had allegedly asked they abstain from voting. Under Pakistani law, votes are disqualified if lawmakers vote contrary to their party’s instructions.
Following Hamza Sharif’s surprise victory, Khan claimed his opponents had resorted to political machinations in Punjab and called on his countrymen to rally against Mazari’s ruling. By Friday night, protesters had started taking to the streets in major cities across Pakistan but the rallies remained peaceful. The PTI has now moved the Supreme Court against Mazari’s decision.
This is the second time that Hamza Sharif beat Elahi in the contest for the Punjab CM. The last time he had secured victory on April 16, his oath-taking had been delayed for days with then then-governor, Omar Sarfaraz Cheema, refusing to administer the oath to him. Eventually, National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf administered the oath to him on April 30, following the Lahore High Court’s directives.
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