ISLAMABAD - Election Commission of Pakistan has announced the by-election on October 3 on a Senate seat from Punjab that was vacated by incumbent Governor Punjab Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar.
Waseem told The Nation that he was in complete coordination with his party’s lawmakers and the party had a comprehensive strategy in hand to ensure his victory for the Senate seat. He said that Pakistan Muslim League–Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q) was the coalition partner of PTI and his 10 lawmakers would also vote for him.
Amid some media reports that Governor Punjab Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar was not visible in this by-election campaign, Dr Waseem said that there was no grouping within the party. He said that the party was in a comfortable position to win this election.
Dr Shahzad Waseem, the other day, addressed a high-level meeting of PTI’s lawmakers of Punjab Assembly in Lahore to ensure their votes for him. The meeting was also attended by Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar, Senior Provincial Minister Abdul Aleem Khan and members of provincial cabinet.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Shehzad Waseem said that the party posed trust in him and he would also leave no stone unturned to fulfil the party agenda and desires of the party leadership.
On the other hand, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the major opposition party in the Punjab Assembly, has come up with a strategy to ensure that all its provincial lawmakers vote for its candidate Khawaja Ahmed Hassan.
For this purpose, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leadership has divided its 159 MPAs into 10 small groups and has appointed a coordinator for every group to ensure that each lawmaker would vote for its candidate. PTI-led coalition has 186 votes in the Punjab Assembly as Sardar Usman Buzdar could get 186 votes of PTI and PML-Q lawmakers to become the chief minister of Punjab. However, Pakistan Muslim League–Quaid-e-Azam leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi in election of the speaker Punjab Assembly had got 201 votes — as many as 15 more votes than the PTI and PML-Q strength in the house.
The results of CM Punjab and speaker Punjab Assembly clearly indicated that some PML-N lawmakers have defected and have voted in favour of Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi.