THE brazen disregard exhibited by the PTI-PML-Q alliance for democratic norms in Punjab has plunged the province into a political and administrative crisis of grave proportions. Indeed, the turmoil in Punjab is seen as an extension of the chaos created by the PTI at the centre, where the party had disrupted the constitutional procedure of a no-confidence vote against Imran Khan, who then hastily asked the president to dissolve the National Assembly. The way the two partners have been trying to delay the election of a new leader of the House in the province, in a last-ditch effort to hold on to power, underscored that they had lost their majority in the provincial assembly. What the PTI-PML-Q combine has done in the last one week to constantly postpone the vote for election of the provincial chief executive shows they have no qualms about bulldozing all democratic principles in their bid to achieve narrow political objectives. Yet these tactics have not helped the alliance, nor its candidate, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, for the top job in Punjab. It will not be incorrect to say that the continuous delay in the election has been more damaging to the alliance than its political opponents. The presence of around 200 lawmakers at the mock election conducted by the opposition parties in a hotel to elect Hamza Shehbaz as the new chief executive, after they were illegally denied access to the assembly building by the PTI-PML-Q leadership, pointed to the fast-depleting political fortunes of the ruling alliance in the province.

If the PTI and PML-Q ever had any chance of winning back their rebellious lawmakers or holding on to power in the province, it now seems to have vanished into thin air after the Supreme Court declaration of the National Assembly deputy Speaker’s ruling, which cancelled the vote of no-confidence against the prime minister, illegal and unconstitutional. The restoration of the National Assembly and the expected passage of the no-trust motion on Saturday will deal the severest possible blow to both the PTI and PML-Q. There is every chance of more lawmakers defecting from the two parties to join the opposition both at the centre and in Punjab. With the next date for the election of the provincial chief executive set for April 16, the crisis in the province may linger a bit. But any more delaying tactics will earn Punjab’s PTI-PML-Q combine further public humiliation and nothing else.

Published in Dawn, April 8th, 2022