LAHORE - In what could have been a dull and boring ballot otherwise, the Senate election in Punjab Assembly on Wednesday turned into an exciting event towards close of the polling though, thanks to a late entry made by a PTI lawmaker in the House.
Sher Akbar Khan, a PTI lawmaker from Sheikhupura entered the House at a time when the Provincial Election Commissioner Zafar Iqbal then acting as Presiding Officer announced closure of the polling process at around 4 pm. Under the rules, all the voters present inside the polling station at the closing time are allowed to cast their vote even if the specified time is over.
Presiding Officer allowed the latecomer to cast his vote. But it invited the ire of the opposition members who objected to the voting after close of the polling time. Led by the PML-N couple, Samiullah Khan and Azma Zahid Bokhari, the opposition members gathered around the rostrum chanting slogans against the Election Commission. They pleaded cancellation of the last vote polled at the closing time terming it illegal. The Presiding Officer did not oblige them saying they could challenge the results at the highest forum afterwards. He also asked them to leave the House so he could start the counting process in the presence of polling agents of the two candidates.
Since the opposition members refused to leave the venue, the Presiding Officer had to exercise his powers to call the Sergeant-at-Arms for forced expulsion of the agitating members. A lady police officer and a male officer entered the House in a while to vacate the polling station from the ‘trouble makers’. Being an extreme step very rarely taken even by a speaker, this came as a proverbial red rag to the bull for the Opposition already annoyed over the unrelenting Presiding Officer. The protest inside the Assembly turned even noisy as the police officers got close to the members.
But the poor officers, two in number, could only request the members to leave the House as it was humanly not feasible to show them the gate. This high drama continued well over half an hour before it was ultimately resolved after mediation by Irrigation Minister Mohsin Leghari. It was settled between the two sides that the opposition members will stay in the House but they would not create any trouble in the count of ballot. The opposition stood by its words and the counting process was completed without any hindrance.
The Presiding Officer declared PTI candidate Dr Shahzad Wasim elected. He secured 181 votes as against 169 of Khawaja Ahmad Hassan of the PML-N. As many as 351 members took part in the polling process on Wednesday while one vote was rejected on technical grounds.
It was quite satisfying for the PML-N to see its candidate getting three extra votes after the final count. Not only had the PML-N managed to keep its original vote bank (159 members) intact three extra votes were also polled to its candidate Khawaja Ahmad Hassan. Seven PPP members also voted for the PML-N candidate. Three PML-N MPAs have not yet taken oath of their office.
Since the voting was done through secret ballot, it could only be assumed that two of the independent members, Ahmad Ali Aulak and Maimnat Mohsin (Jugnu Mohsin) and one member of Rah-e-Haq party Mouawia Azam might have voted for the PML-N candidate. Previously, these members have been voting for the PTI candidates in the election of the chief minister, speaker and the deputy speaker.
Though the PTI candidate was elected senator on the basis of securing simple majority votes, he got seven votes less than Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar who had then got 188 votes.
One PTI member Mohammad Salman could not cast his vote due to his disqualification while two other members did not turn up due to varying reasons. Muneeb Sultan Cheema is stated to be out of the country while Ayesha Ch is on maternity leave. PTI has attributed the one rejected vote to one of its MAPs who mistakenly put the tick mark at the wrong place.