Khan-led PTI won 15 seats while PM Sharif’s PML-N managed to get just 4 seats. One seat went to an independent.
Almost all PTI turncoats that voted for the chief minister’s post for PML-N’s Hamza Shahbaz Sharif lost the election.
The numbers in the 371-seat Punjab Assembly are now as follows:
This means that Hamza Shahbaz Sharif, son of PM Shahbaz Sharif, will be removed from the post of Chief Minister. Hamza is being replaced by Chaudhry Parvez Elahi of the PML-Q in the chief ministerial election to be held on July 22.
After the victory in the by-election, Khan demanded an early national election
Excited by the victory in the bypoll, Khan has called for an early national election.
Khan was ousted in April after a protracted political drama, with Shahbaz Sharif taking over as prime minister.
Since then Khan has held massive public rallies demanding that the country’s premier be voted off before the scheduled dates of October 2023. He is now describing Sunday’s election victory as a sign of his party’s popular support.
“The only way forward from here is to conduct free and fair elections under a credible ECP,” Khan said in a tweet, referring to the Election Commission of Pakistan. “Any other path will only lead to more political uncertainty and further economic chaos.”
why the by-election
Bypolls for 20 seats were necessitated as members elected in the 2018 elections were declared ‘ineligible for defection’ by a Supreme Court order. Of these, 11 seats were won by independents and 9 by PTI candidates. Later all 11 independents joined PTI. However, all of them had voted for Hamza Shahbaz Sharif of PML-N in the election of Chief Minister in the assembly.
Hamza was elected chief minister on April 16 this year in a controversial and uproarious session of the Punjab Legislative Assembly. The election was challenged in court by the PTI-PML(Q) alliance. The Lahore High Court annulled Hamza’s election as chief minister on 30 June.
PML-N got a setback in its stronghold
The bypoll result is a setback for the PML-N after toppling the Imran Khan government in Islamabad with the help of the PPP and some other parties in April this year.
It seems that giving ticket to PTI’s turncoat and some tough decisions of the Shahbaz Sharif government did not go down well with the voters of Punjab. This includes hikes in fuel and electricity rates—the conditions set by the IMF for a financial package to stabilize the crippled economy.
The PML-N has not been able to control inflation effectively – an issue it used to target the Imran Khan government.
Analysts believe that the defeat in Punjab would weaken Shahbaz Sharif’s federal government and it may not be able to sustain pressure from unfriendly provincial governments for long.
PM Sharif will feel pressure on the economic front
Pakistan was able to get a financial package of $ 6 billion from the IMF only after agreeing to the difficult conditions. The IMF may now delay the loan disbursement and wait for political clarity within the country.
He believes that even friendly countries will be reluctant to give aid to an unstable government facing financial crisis.
An immediate impact of Punjab’s results was seen in the currency market, as the Pakistani rupee fell by Rs 5.06 to a new low of Rs 216.01 against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Monday.