Govt, opp meet today on CM’s election

Senior lawmakers of govt and opposition invited for the meeting to be chaired by Elahi

In another political move, Speaker Punjab Assembly Chaudhry Parvez Elahi convened a meeting of the government and opposition to discuss Punjab chief minister’s election.

The reelection for the coveted office is scheduled to be held on July 22 when the House will be completed after the by-elections on 20 vacant seats. On Monday, a notification was issued by the assembly secretariat through which Elahi convened the meeting to discuss the CM’s elections. PPP Minister Syed Hassan Murtaza, Finance Minister Sardar Awais Laghari, Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Malik Ahmad Khan, leader of the opposition Sibtain Khan, PTI’s MPAs Raja Basharat, Ch Zaheer ud Din, Mian Aslam Iqbal, Deputy Speaker Sardar Dost Muhammad Mazari, PTI’s parliamentary leader Mian Mehmood ur Rasheed and PML-N’s MPAs Malik Nadeem Kamran and Khalil Tahir Sindhu have been invited to the meeting.

According to the notification issued by Secretary Punjab Assembly Muhammad Khan Bhatti, the meeting of Business Advisory Committee will be held at 11.30am in the Speaker’s chamber. It is interesting to note that Elahi had already convened the session of Punjab Assembly for today (Tuesday) on the requisition of the opposition. It was the parallel session being attended by the MPAs of the opposition while the government was holding the budget session at Aiwan-e-Iqbal.

When the Lahore High Court took up the matter related to the election of Punjab chief minister on the petitions of PTI and PML-Q, the government prorogued its session of Aiwan-e-Iqbal but the session of opposition being held in Punjab Assembly wasn’t prorogued. The government had already declared the session of opposition illegal while the opposition termed the session of treasury as unconstitutional.

Now, Parvez Elahi has made a political move by convening the meeting of business advisory committee on the day when he is holding his own session of Punjab Assembly. If the treasury lawmakers attend the session in Punjab Assembly they will give legal cover to the sitting and therefore it is not likely that today’s (Tuesday) session will be attended by the government’s MPAs.

It is worth mentioning here that usually the business advisory committee holds its meeting the day when the said session is called but Elahi convened the meeting two weeks before the session of 22 July when reelection for CM will be held. The Punjab Assembly session called by Elahi also issued an agenda item for today. It will be Private Members’ Day today (Tuesday) while some resolutions are also there related to the public interest.

Moreover, general discussion on constitutional crises, price hike and law and order situation will also be held today as per the agenda issued by the assembly secretariat. Earlier, Elahi-led session has revoked the legislation made by the treasury’s session held at Aiwan-e-Iqbal. The MPAs of opposition revoked the government’s legislation by once again empowering the Secretary Assembly to issue the notification for summoning and proroguing the session. The amendments were made in Rules of procedures of Provincial Assembly of the Punjab 1997 to once again empower the Secretary. Earlier, the powers of Secretary were curtailed by the government through legislation.