LAHORE            -          True to his promise with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan, Punjab Chief Minister Ch Parvez Elahi on Thursday advised the governor to dissolve the Punjab Assembly, thereby paving the way for fresh elections in the largest province. The development comes after the chief minister obtained a vote of confidence from the Punjab Assembly in the wee hours of Wednesday night and the subsequent revocation of governor’s orders regarding denotification of the chief minister and his cabinet. The Lahore High Court also disposed of the chief minister’s petition against the governor’s order when the latter accepted the trust vote taken by the chief minister from the assembly. The decision to send advice to the governor for the assembly’s dissolution was taken in a meeting between Ch Parvez Elahi and PTI chief Imran Khan held at latter’s Zaman Park residence here. MNA Hussain Elahi and CM’s son Rasikh Elahi also attended the meeting. PTI’s Senior Vice-President Fawad Chaudhry made the decision public while talking to the media after the meeting. “The chief minister has signed the summary regarding dissolution of the Punjab Assembly which would stand dissolved after 48 hours of the CM’s advice even if the governor does not dissolve the assembly”, he announced, adding that the chief minister will also write a letter to the Leader of the Opposition Hamza Shehbaz to evolve consensus over the name of the caretaker chief minister. About the dissolution of the KPK assembly, Fawad said the chief minister would send advice to the governor on Saturday. He said the PTI would also approach the National Assembly speaker once again and press for acceptance of resignations of party MNAs. He said his party was now heading towards elections. The chief minister’s advice was received at the Governor House Secretariat at 10:10pm on Thursday night. The receiving of the advice at the Governor’s Secretariat was announced by Ch Moonis Elahi in a tweet. Moonis also stated in his tweet that there was no way out but to hold elections after the chief minister’s advice. Earlier in the day, Punjab Governor Muhammad Balighur Rehman withdrew his order of December 22 about the denotification of the chief minister and his cabinet. “In view of the Speaker Punjab Assembly’s intimation confirming compliance of my order dated 19th December 2022 in terms of Clause (7) of Article 130 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, I am pleased to withdraw my consequent Order dated 22nd December”, read the governor’s order. According to article 224 1A of the Constitution, the care-taker chief minister would be appointed by the governor in consultation with the chief minister and the leader of the opposition in the provincial assembly. But in case the chief minister and the leader of the opposition don’t agree on one name, they will forward two names each to a committee to be immediately constituted by the Assembly speaker comprising members of the outgoing assembly with equal representation of the opposition and the treasury to decide the name of the care-taker chief minister. The committee will have three days to evolve consensus over one name. And, if the committee also fails to decide on one name, it will refer names of the nominees to the Election Commission of Pakistan that will make a final decision in this regard within two days. In this way, the finalization of the name of the care-taker chief minister may take eight days in case of disagreement between the incumbent chief minister and the opposition leader. Since the assembly committee constituted by the speaker has equal representation of the opposition and treasury members, a consensus over one name is hard to achieve at this forum also.