LAHORE – Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Dost Mohammad Mazari was manhandledby PTI and PML-Q lawmakers when he entered the hall to convene session forelection of new chief minister.
Reports said that the government legislators surrounded the deputy speaker,who was slapped and dragged by his hair on the floor of the assembly.
Security officials rescued Mazari and shifted it to deputy speaker chamber.The official has reportedly sustained injuries during the incident.
As the situation turned violent, Punjab police officials in plain clothesentered the assembly to bring the situation under the control.
Lawmakers from PTI and its ally parties are creating ruckus in theprovincial assembly in order to block the vote for the new chief ministeras Usman Buzdar has resigned from the post.
Videos circulating on social media show PTI lawmakers, including womenmembers, are tossing “lotay” in the air to slam defected members of theparty.
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PML-Q’s Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and PML-N’s Hamza Shahbaz Sharif, who hassecured the support of PTI’s dissident lawmakers — the Jahangir Khan Tarinand Aleem Khan groups — are to go head to head in the race to become thenext chief minister.
Hamza Shehbaz claimed that he has support of 203 lawmakers while PervaizElahi said that 189 legislators will vote for him.
To be elected as chief minister, a candidate will need at least 186 votesin the 371-member house. In the Punjab Assembly, the PTI has 183 lawmakers,PML-Q 10, PML-N 165, PPP seven, five are independent and one belongs toRah-i-Haq.
