Lahore: Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party has planned to call a ‘parallel session’ of the Punjab Assembly to elect the Chief Minister, Assembly Speaker and Deputy Speaker and claimed It is said that Maryam Nawaz has been elected Chief Minister on the basis of ‘stolen mandate’. This information has been given in the media report released on Tuesday.
Maryam, 50, senior vice president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, created history by becoming the first woman chief minister of Pakistan’s most populous Punjab province by securing 220 votes. He defeated 71-year-old Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC)’s Rana Aftab, who did not receive any votes as his party had boycotted the elections.
Former cricketer-turned-politician Khan’s party on Monday called for a ‘parallel’ Punjab Assembly after claiming the strength of 250 members, including reserved seats for women and minorities, Dawn newspaper reported. PTI central leader Shaukat Basra claimed at a press conference that more than half of the elected members of the Punjab Assembly, including newly elected Chief Minister Maryam, are in the House ‘on the basis of a stolen mandate’.
According to the report, he claimed that Maryam was defeated by PTI-backed candidate Mehar Sharafat in Lahore’s PP-159 constituency. Basra said that the results were rigged to ensure the victory of the new Chief Minister of Punjab. He said that Maryam ‘won the election on February 9 instead of February 8.’
“PML-N leaders used to say that they have compromised with powerful powers, but they failed to compromise with the people of Pakistan,” he said. The PTI leader said, “This rigged election will lead to anarchy.” He claimed that the establishment is still requesting PTI founder Khan to become the prime minister. “But Mr Khan is determined that the establishment must ensure that PTI-backed candidates are returned the mandate given by the people of Pakistan,” Basra said.
The party criticized Maryam’s election as the chief minister of the politically crucial Punjab province and said all democratic and constitutional norms were trampled upon to elect her. In a statement, the party spokesperson claimed that police “imposed curfew” outside the assembly to prevent PTI members and the chief ministerial candidate from entering the assembly.
It claimed that the sanctity of the Punjab Assembly was violated by ‘stealing the public mandate’ to bring a ‘defeated woman’ to power. According to the report, the spokesperson said that the people of Punjab ‘will not tolerate the disrespect of their mandate.’ At least 103 elected members of the PTI-backed SIC had staged a walkout after their party’s chief ministerial candidate Aftab was not allowed to speak on a point of order.