ECP de-seats 25 dissident MPAs from Punjab

The Election Commission of Pakistan has declared the 25 dissident members of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in the Punjab Assembly de-seated in its verdict in a case referring to the disqualifcation of MPAs who had voted against the party line in the election of Punjab chief minister.

The electoral commission stated in its verdict that the lawmakers who “defected from the party [PTI] by voting in favour of Hamza Shehbaz” were de-seated.

The Election Commission of Pakistan on Tuesday had reserved its decision on a reference that sought the disqualification of 25 dissident members of provincial assembly of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, who had voted for Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Hamza Shehbaz in the election for the Punjab chief minister.

During the previous month, Hamza was elected Punjab chief minister after defeating Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid’s joint candidate, Chaudhry Parvez Elahi. Hamza received 197 votes, including 25 from PTI dissidents. Elahi did not get any votes as the PTI and PML-Q lawmakers had walked out of the session.

Consequently, after PTI’s declaration, Elahi, who is also the Punjab Assembly speaker, sent a reference against the dissident lawmakers to the ECP. He urged the ECP to de-seat the lawmakers on grounds of defection from PTI.

The 25 lawmakers who have been named in the reference were given directions by PTI but they cast their votes in Hamza’s favor, Elahi’s reference stated. Consequently, the dissident MPAs were issued show cause notices to offer explanation on their position but they did not respond, it added.

The Punjab Assembly is made up of 371 members in total. Following the de-seating of the 25 members, there will be 346 lawmakers in the house.

Out of the lawmakers who have been de-seated, five were on special seats. The number of PTI members will jump up to 163 after they get these five reserved seats.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid has ten members, while the opposition enjoys the total strength of 177 lawmakers.

Among these, 165 members of Punjab Assembly belong to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, seven members to Pakistan People’s Party, whereas the Rah-e-Haq Party has one lawmaker along with four independent candidates.

In the event the four deviant PML-N members do not cast their votes, a total 173 lawmakers will be left in the opposition.

Amid the fresh situation, Chaudhry Nisar’s and the four independent candidates’ votes will become important.