According to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry, Punjab Chief Minister Parvez Elahi on Thursday officially dissolved the provincial assembly after months of political wrangling.
The change occurs a day after the Punjab chief minister received a vote of confidence from parliamentarians by a Lahore High Court (LHC) directive.
”I Parvez Elahi, chief minister of Punjab, hereby advise you to dissolve the provincial assembly,” Elahi said in a one-line letter to Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman.
Initially, numerous PTI leaders posted a picture of the summary, printed on a plain sheet of paper, on Twitter. Yet Elahi’s son Moonis afterwards tweeted a copy of the summary that was printed on the chief minister’s official letterhead and bore both his signature and the current date.
“Promise fulfilled. May we see you back in the prime minister seat soon Imran Khan,” Moonis tweeted.
In the meantime, the governor of Punjab acknowledged receiving Elahi’s summary.
The PTI leader told reporters in Lahore that ”Elahi had signed the summary and that it had been forwarded to Punjab Governor Baligh-Ur-Rehman for his signature. If he does not do so within the next 48 hours, the legislature will be dissolved by the Constitution.”
The chief minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan met at Khan’s Zaman Park mansion, where senior party figures were also present, and decided to dissolve the legislature.
Due to a restriction from the LHC, the assembly couldn’t have been dissolved sooner, but since Elahi had gained the legislative branch’s support once more, the restriction was lifted and the case was dropped.
Elahi cast the vote for the confidence the day before after the LHC decided that the governor could order the chief minister to ask the house for its confidence even when a session was still in progress.
According to the court, the chief minister must always have the backing of the 186 MPs needed to be elected as the CM.
On a motion made by Punjab Minister Mian Aslam Iqbal and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Raja Basharat, 186 members of the provincial assembly (MPAs) voted in favour of Elahi’s election as chief minister.
