Elahi’s position as chief minister of Punjab is terminated, as the governor of Punjab tells Baligh, and the cabinet is dissolved.
LAHORE: In the wee hours of Friday, Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman de-notified Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi for refusing to accept a vote of confidence from the provincial parliament on his order on Wednesday, December 21.
After midnight, the Governor House sent out a notification stating that Chief Minister Elahi had immediately resigned from his position and the provincial cabinet had been disbanded. But it also stated that Elahi will continue in office in accordance with Article 133 of the Constitution up until the provincial parliament elected a new chief minister.
According to the governor’s decision, “Chief Minister Elahi ceases to retain his office with immediate effect” because “I am satisfied that he [Elahi] does not command the confidence of the majority of the members of the Punjab Assembly.” The ruling also stated, “As a result of the foregoing, the Provincial Cabinet stands dissolved immediately.”
The Punjab governor’s order additionally stated that Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi “is hereby asked to continue to retain office till his successor enters upon the office of the Chief Minister” in accordance with Article 133 of the Constitution.
In accordance with a directive he made under Article 130(7) of the Constitution on Monday, Elahi “refrained from gaining vote of confidence” at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, and “he still has not done so even after the passage of another twenty-four hours,” according to the governor’s order.
Elahi remains CM
Fawad Chaudhry, a top PTI politician, responded to the governor’s order by claiming that the governor of Punjab lacked the authority to de-notify the chief minister. “The Constitution doesn’t allow for this notification. Pervaiz Elahi, the chief minister, has never declined to accept a vote of confidence, according to Chaudhry.
Pervaiz Elahi will take the vote of confidence whenever the provincial assembly session is called by the speaker. He added that Chaudhry Perviaz Elahi will continue serving as chief minister and that the party would file a lawsuit against the Punjab governor.
“Let’s imagine that the speaker misunderstood the governor’s directive. Even then, the governor lacks the authority to hold the chief minister accountable for the speaker’s error. We anticipated this behaviour from the current authorities, but we will nonetheless file a lawsuit against the governor and contact the president.
Elahi was still serving as chief minister, the PTI chairman asserted, and the provincial cabinet was still in place. “Punjab Assembly will take up the no-trust motion and demonstrate its strength in the house, following which the provincial assembly will be disbanded, as per the decision of the party’s head Imran Khan.”
After the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) filed a no-confidence motion against Elahi to prevent the dissolution of the provincial parliament on Friday, Governor Rehman ordered the chief minister to seek a vote of confidence on December 21. (today).
However, because he failed to convene the meeting on Wednesday as instructed by the governor, Punjab Assembly Speaker Sibtain Khan postponed the meeting to Friday (today) on Tuesday. The governor’s letter requesting the chief minister to seek a vote of confidence, according to the speaker, violated both the assembly norms and the Constitution.
The speaker concluded that the governor’s directive to the chief minister was unlawful since the assembly was currently in session and the governor was unable to call a new session until the present one was prorogued. The governor denounced the speaker’s decision as illegal on Wednesday.
In a TV interview earlier on Thursday, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said that Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi was “no longer the chief minister of Punjab constitutionally” because he had “failed” to win the Punjab Assembly’s vote of confidence as the provincial governor had instructed.
He is no longer the chief minister of Punjab, the minister declared, because he was unable to win a vote of confidence. Elahi could no longer advise on whether to dissolve the assembly after failing to win the vote since he was no longer authorised by law to do so, he continued.
The minister stated: “The notification of de-notifying Elahi would be issued as soon as the governor rolls out an order,” adding that the governor might write to the federal government if this constitutional decision was opposed and its implementation was stopped.
Imran Khan, the chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), announced last week that the provincial assemblies of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would be dissolved on Friday in order to force the coalition government to call early general elections in the nation. This announcement sparked the most recent development.
According to Imran, the resignation of PTI legislators from the National Assembly, Sindh, and Balochistan assembly as well as the dissolution of the two provincial assemblies will result in new provincial elections and by-elections in roughly two-thirds of all constituencies in the nation.
The government coalition, which was primarily made up of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) parties, increased its attempts to avert this situation. To prevent the Punjab chief minister from dissolving the legislature, the PPP and PML-N, two significant parties in the alliance, submitted a no confidence resolution against him on Monday.
Following a full day of discussions with the government’s legal experts, the governor issued his decision. Some government attorneys believed that the governor ought to exercise moderation given that the chief minister had not declined to accept the vote of confidence and that the speaker had not called the assembly into session.
The attorneys expressed a word of caution, pointing out that the de-notification order might be contested in court and that prior judicial interventions had not produced political stability. According to a source, the legal professionals suggested that the speaker’s decision be appealed instead.
