ISLAMABAD: Leaders of Pakistan’s ruling party in the center met on Monday to mull names for a caretaker chief minister, days after the Punjab legislative assembly was dissolved in a bid to force the federal government into holding snap general elections.
The 17th Provincial Assembly of the Punjab was dissolved on January 14 and as per the law, the province has to elect a new legislature no later than April 14.
Punjab is home to more than half of Pakistan’s population of more than 220 million and is one of two provinces ruled by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party of ex-PM Khan. PTI members have also announced they will dissolve the local assembly of the other province it rules, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Local elections in both the Punjab and KP provinces, in addition to general elections later this year, would be an expensive and logistically complicated exercise for a government heavily dependent on foreign aid after devastating floods last year.
Political analysts say this new pressure after the assembly dissolution plays into Khan’s demand for an early election, although any local assembly elections do not constitutionally trigger a national election.
On Sunday, PTI and his allies announced the names of their three candidates for caretaker CM while Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) held consultations for its picks on Monday.
“A consultative meeting of the party was held at the PML-N Headquarters at Model Town in Lahore, on Monday with PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif in the chair,” Samaa reported.
Pakistani TV channels widely showed footage of the meeting which deposed prime minister and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz joined virtually.
“In the first step, it was decided to appoint a representative of the party to carry forward the consultations with Elahi given that Leader of the Opposition in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz is currently out of the country,” Samaa said.
Khan was ousted in a no-confidence vote by Parliament last April. He wants early elections as he says his ouster was orchestrated by now PM Shehbaz Sharif, with the US government’s help. Sharif and Washington have denied the allegation.