Zardari played ‘historic role’ in Hamza’s victory: PM.

LAHORE    -   The Punjab Assembly on Friday elected Hamza Shehbaz Sharif as the Chief Minister for the second time in a runoff poll conducted by Deputy Speaker Sardar Dost Mohammad Mazari on the orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

But, as a matter of fact, the house just affixed its official stamp on Hamza’s election as the decision about who would be the next Punjab chief minister was taken outside the Assembly hours before the commencement of the session.

This important decision that will shape up the future political course was actually taken in a meeting between PPP supremo Asif Ali Zardari and PML-Q chief Ch Shujat Hussain. Besides the PML-N Quaid Mian Nawaz Sharif who was taken onboard, some other players played a crucial role in convincing Ch Shujat to issue a letter directing members of the parliamentary party of the PML-Q to vote for Hamza Shehbaz Sharif instead of Ch Parvez Elahi.

When the deputy speaker came to chair the Assembly sitting around 7:00 pm, he already had the ‘PML-N’s trump card’ in his pocket. The entire Assembly proceeding which followed was just a formality to be filled by the house. The decision had already been taken somewhere else. Most of the Assembly members knew the results even before the voting.

Following recitation from the Holy Quran and Na’at, the deputy speaker administered oath to the newly elected PML-N member Raja Sagheer. Then he started the process for election of the chief minister.

The presiding chairman subtracted 25 votes from the previous count of the first round of poll held on April16 and declared that Hamza Shehbaz has been left with 172 votes and Ch Parvez Elahi has got zero vote. Since no candidate has secured 186 votes in the first round, the runoff poll will decide the winning candidate, he declared. This was in line with the Supreme Court’s order.

Then he conducted the second round as per court’s directions. Following the completion of the voting process, the count of votes polled to the two candidates was presented before the deputy speaker.

“Hamza Shehbaz has got 179 votes while Ch Parvez Elahi secured 186”, the deputy speaker announced while giving details of the votes cast by each parliamentary party. Then he picked up a piece of paper, actually a trump card played by the PML-N, and showed it to the house and the media gallery.

“I have just received a letter from the PML-Q head Ch Shujat Hussain which contains his directions to the members of the party’s parliamentary party to vote for Hamza Shehbaz Sharif. I also talked to Ch Shujat on the phone, and he has confirmed that he has written this letter. Now, in the light of the Supreme court’s order that votes of defectors will not be counted, I reject 10 votes cast by the PML-Q MPAs. And, after subtraction of 10 rejected votes, Hamza Shehbaz has secured 179 while Ch Parvez Elahi’s count stands at 176”, the deputy speaker told the house, He then declared Hamza Shehbaz Sharif elected as the chief minister.

When the deputy speaker cited Shujat’s letter and subtracted 10 votes from the final count, PTI’ Raja Basharat told the chair that under Article 63-A (1)(b), the head of the parliamentary party had the power to issue directions to the members. The deputy speaker asked him to read the same article till end where it has also been written that the Party head had the power to declare the members to have defected from the political party. The presiding chairman also made a reference to Supreme Court decision in this regard and left the house declaring the 40th session as having been prorogued.

It may be called an irony of fate that in the CM’s election on Friday, the PTI fell a victim to the same reference it had filed before the SC for interpretation of Article 63-A. The SC’s interpretation was that votes of defectors should not be counted.

PM praises Asif Zardari, Ch Shujat

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed his gratitude to Almighty Allah on the election of Hamza Shehbaz as Chief Minister Punjab.

In a tweet on Friday, he said Chaudhry Shujat Hussain has once again revived the democratic tradition of his great father and family. He said the role played by Chaudhry Shujat Hussain today is a victory of democracy and constitutional values.

Praising former President Asif Ali Zardari, the Prime Minister said Asif Ali Zardari has played a historic role for the constitution, democracy and the interest of the people. He said political tolerance of Asif Ali Zardari has ended the crises in the province.