LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi’s election as the speaker of Punjab Assembly on Thursday pointed to a forward bloc within Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
Elahi, who had Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) support, secured 201 votes in the election for speaker of the provincial house.
His contender, PML-N nominee Chaudhry Mohammad Iqbal, gained 147 votes despite the fact that the party had a total strength of 162 in the Punjab Assembly.
The reports of a forward bloc were substantiated after PTI leader Mehmoodur Rasheed said they did not make a conscious effort to create a forward bloc in the rival party, rather the “PML-N friends offered to cooperate themselves”.
Rasheed further said that they had freed Punjab from the slavery of the “throne of Lahore”.
Speaking to media prior to the election, Saad Rafique said that the “government was being selected through horse trading”.
He said that efforts were made to break his party members, adding, “A disqualified individual was bringing members of the assembly in [his] plane.”
