Imran Khan’s party loses votes in the Punjab assembly...
Protests have been in major cities all over Pakistan to denounce what they claim as the “theft” of the mandate by the former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party in the Punjab provincial assembly. Pakistan Tehreef-e-Insaaf (PTI), Imran khan’s party on Friday lost a very key vote in the Punjab assembly despite winning the by-elections there earlier in this week.
The vote was held to govern whether the authority over the Chief Minister Province given to Hamza Sharbaz Sharif, the son of the country’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was because he enjoyed the backing of the majority of legislators in the local parliament. Sharif had secured his place as another blow to Khan, whose PTI party and his allies had hoped to form a provincial government in Punjab.
A protestor Shazia Imran said to the Associated Press in Karachi that, “They have stolen the mandate of Imran Khan. They have betrayed the nation. People won’t tolerate this. We have tolerated this for too long”. In April as the former international cricket star Imran Khan faced defeat as he was dismissed by a no-confidence vote, almost 20 seats were up for the grabs in the Punjab by-elections.
The Bloc won 15 seats of the 371 member’s provincial assembly, with Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) taking four and one going to an independent. Khan’s candidate for Chief Minister Parvez Elahi initially bagged 186 votes. However, the provincial assembly’s deputy speaker Dost Muhammad Mazari invalidated 10 of his votes for violating voting regulations.
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