LAHORE: Three votes — two by independent MPAs and one by the lone member of the Rah-i-Haq party — helped the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) attain simple majority and get its candidate Usman Buzdar elected as chief minister in the first session of the 17th Punjab Assembly on Sunday.

Mr Buzdar secured 186 votes, the number required for simple majority, in the 371-member house, while his rival, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Hamza Shahbaz, could get 159 votes.

Independents Ahmad Ali Aulakh and Jugnu Mohsin and Rah-i-Haq’s Muavia Azam polled votes for the PTI candidate to help him attain simple majority in the house. Pakistan Peoples Party MPAs abstained from voting.

A first-timer in Punjab Assembly, Mr Buzdar in his speech expressed his resolve to work in accordance with the vision of his leader Imran Khan to streamline governance, eliminate corruption, break status quo and strengthen state institutions with an ultimate goal of serving the masses.

Three votes by independent MPAs and Rah-i-Haq party enable PTI candidate to attain simple majority; PPP abstains from vote

Hamza Shahbaz raised the opposition’s demand for constituting a parliamentary commission to investigate “rigging” in July 25 elections.

PML-N legislators raised slogans as the session was delayed for more than an hour. When Speaker Pervaiz Elahi entered the house and started the proceedings, PTI MPAs stood guard in front of the speaker’s rostrum and moved away only after PML-N protest led by Khawaja Saad Rafique ended.

Mr Rafique said political protests were part of democratic process but nobody could dare cross the red line hence the human-shield in front of the speaker’s rostrum was uncalled for.

Speaker Pervaiz Elahi responded that there was no place in the house for members to sit and chided the PML-N government for failing to complete the remaining 30 per cent work on the new purpose-built Punjab Assembly building during the past 10-year rule. “Almost 70 per cent construction work was completed during my tenure as chief minister over a decade ago,” he said.

The speaker conducted the voting process smoothly through the parliamentary mode of open division of the house – as the members recorded their preference in registers placed at the doors leading to lobbies meant for treasury and opposition members. The PPP’s Haider Ali Gillani was present in the house but six other members of the party weren’t.

As soon as the speaker announced the results, stamping third successive democratic transfer of power in Punjab Assembly, a noisy protest began from opposition benches.

While the PTI and PML-Q members were cheering the leader of the house, the PTI women responded to PML-N slogans in a louder voice. The media persons in the Press Gallery could hear PML-N slogans of “Qatil-i-Aala” and PTI response “Shahbaz Sharif”.

The sloganeering match between the treasury and opposition benches lasted for quite some time as the speaker once asked the opposition members to “hurry up” and complete their “item”. He eventually controlled the situation and ensured inaugural speeches of the elected chief minister, runner-up and parliamentary leaders of the Rah-i-Haq party and PPP.

Chief Minister Buzdar said his party chief Imran Khan had selected him on merit for being a resident of the most backward area in Punjab and that there was no electricity in his house in Taunsa’s tribal area.

Mr Buzdar expressed his commitment to “translating Prime Minister Imran Khan’s vision of overcoming major challenges” into a reality. “The PTI government’s priority will remain good governance, elimination of corruption and status quo, reforming police force on the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa model and strengthening state institutions,” he said. “The local government will be strengthened to empower people at grassroots level,” he avowed.

Re-assuring that all PTI members will put in their efforts to make Punjab a developed and prosperous province, the chief minister said that all party MPAs would be “chief ministers in their respective constituencies”.

Runner-up candidate Hamza Shahbaz was conspicuous by his absence during the chief minister’s speech and remained unavailable when the speaker called his name for his inaugural speech in the house. Saad Rafique informed the house that Mr Shahbaz had gone to offer prayer. In the meantime, the speaker got a resolution unanimously passed against alleged sacrilege of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) through a caricature contest in Holland.

Hamza Shahbaz praised the third-time smooth transfer of power in Punjab but said in the same breath that the PTI’s win had been eclipsed by ‘massive rigging’.

Referring to comments coming from international observers and foreign press, he asked the Election Commission of Pakistan why its Result Transmission System (RTS) jammed though the commission had spent Rs21 billion on it from public money. “The RTS did not fail but it was manipulated to get desired results,” he asserted.

At a little interference from treasury benches, Hamza Shahbaz sharply responded and sat down on his chair, saying the PML-N would cooperate with the speaker but would protest vigorously in case of interruption and personal attacks.

Resuming his speech, he said an ECP official had told media that the RTS failed because the commission had not held its trial run at a major scale. He said the PML-N and the PPP’s request for enhancing polling time by an hour was turned down besides their polling agents were locked in polling stations and results were issued on simple papers.

He said all political parties were levelling rigging allegations and regretted that the voting margin was much less than cancelled votes in 36 constituencies in the country. He said the results were also delayed for at least 36 hours even in Lahore.

Hamza Shahbaz also said that some 16,800 workers of his party were booked just a day before the elections, while a candidate was declared ineligible. He also chided the ECP saying that ballot papers were found at school desks and in drains in different parts of the province.

While narrating the PML-N government’s achievements during the past decade, Hamza Shahbaz asked the house to shun the previous mistakes and work for a better Pakistan. He called for political consensus on Kalaagh dam besides making efforts to construct other dams to generate cheap electricity and hold water in reservoirs.

Hamza Shahbaz asserted that the PML-N would actively perform the role of opposition and protest inside and outside the Punjab Assembly against all kinds of wrongdoings by the incumbent government.

He thanked the people of Punjab for making the PML-N still the largest political party in the province though massive efforts were made to push the party against the wall.

Hamza Shahbaz congratulated the newly elected chief minister and hoped that the PTI government would fulfil the promises it had made with the people.

The leader of Rah-i-Haq party’s parliamentary party, Muavia Azam, supported the demand for constitution of a parliamentary commission to investigate alleged poll rigging. Referring to the fact that the PML-N had not completed the Punjab Assembly building during its 10-year rule in the province, he stressed that the PTI should not show such a mentality and complete all public welfare projects initiated by the PML-N government in Punjab.

PPP parliamentary party leader Syed Haider Ali Gillani urged the CM-elect to strive for the creation of southern Punjab province. He said former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani had got a resolution in this regard passed from the Senate with a two-third majority.

Speaker Pervaiz Elahi adjourned the first session of the assembly for an indefinite period.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2018