ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Friday lauded the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP)’s ruling on de-seating defecting lawmakers of Punjab Assembly, saying half of the ‘conspiracy’ against the former prime minister Imran Khan had been rolled back.

“Today, another chapter of this conspiracy has been exposed,” PTI secretary general Asad Umar said while talking to journalists after the ECP verdict. He said that there was no justification for Punjab Assembly to function.

“I feel pity for the politicians who invested millions of rupees in these turncoats. The way one chapter of this conspiracy has been reverted, we want the rest of it to meet the same fate so that the country could be steered out of the current crisis,” he added.

He pointed out that Hamza had 197 votes and 25 of those MPAs had now been disqualified, adding the government should immediately announce fresh elections.

Meanwhile, former information minister Fawad Chaudhry said that Hamza Shehbaz doesn’t have the majority in the Punjab assembly to run the government after the ECP decision.

He said that technically, a government formed on 186 votes is required in the provincial assembly, but in the re-run, the governor Punjab and the president would examine if the government is stable enough to be run if the figure is below that or else they would dissolve it.

To a question regarding de-seating of five PTI members on the reserved seats, he said that the tally of 173 includes five reserved members as well, and that a notification in this regard will be issued tonight. He demanded the experiments being performed for the past 90 days should end now, adding the government is not in a position of taking any decision and it is seeking National Security Committee (NSC)’s help to set the petrol price.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022