ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan will seek a vote of confidence from the National Assembly on Saturday to limit the opposition’s ability to challenge his government.
In this regard, President Arif Alvi has convened a session of the National Assembly at 12:15PM on Saturday. The government has barred all MNAs from leaving Islamabad.
Prime Minister Khan decided to take a vote of confidence from the lower house of Parliament after the government coalition-backed candidate Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh lost a Senate seat from Islamabad to a joint candidate of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) Yousuf Raza Gilani.
Shaikh suffered defeat at the hands of Gilani in a major upset. He secured 164 votes as against 169 by the PPP leader. The rejected votes played a key role in the opposition candidate’s win as these exceeded the margin of victory.
Addressing a press conference, Shah Mahmood Qureshi had said the prime minister has announced to take a vote of confidence from the Parliament. “The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has unanimously decided that Prime Minister Imran Khan will seek a vote of confidence from the National Assembly,” Qureshi said.
The foreign minister had said that the government tried all its efforts to pave way for transparency in the Senate elections the opposition foiled all such attempts. He lamented that the ECP was entrusted with a huge responsibility but failed to hold free and fair polls.
Meanwhile, Information Minister Shibli Faraz said that Prime Minister Imran’s apprehensions about the Senate elections’ transparency proved correct, as evident from the result of election of the general seat for Islamabad.
