There is an old phrase in Pakistan politics which states Ek Zardari Sabse Bhari or Asif Ali Zardari the Co Chair of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and a long time survivor of Pakistani politics can alone swing the state of polity in the country against multiple rivals.
Asif Ali Zardari’s skills in swinging the vote in favour of PML-N’s Hamza Shehbaz at the Chief Minister of Pakistan’s Punjab province was evident as he weaned away Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain who is head of the Pakistan Muslim League Qaid (PML Q) thereby denying backing of his party to his own brother and PML-Q member Pervez Elahi who had was the candidate backed by Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf [PTI]. The PTI had 178 votes and hoped to pitch Pervez Elahi into the hot seat with 10 seats of the PML Q.
PTI seemingly had the majority with 178 votes of their own and 10 of the PML-Q.
However PML-Q head Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain issued a letter at the last minute to his Members of Provincial Assembly to vote for Hamza turned the scales in favour of the PML N candidate.
Now an intense debate has emerged on the legal validity in light of the Supreme Court’s interpretation of Article 63-A. The Deputy Speaker of the Punjab Assembly Dost Muhammad Mazari read out the letter sent to him by the PML-Q president and citing Article 63A of the Constitution, rejected 10 votes cast by PML-Q members.
Article 63(A) was applied after PML-Q President, Chaudhry Shujaat’s letter to the deputy speaker, in which he had directed the party not to vote in any party's favour.
As per Dawn News after counting the polled votes, the deputy speaker announced that Elahi bagged 186 votes, while Hamza could get 179 votes. However, he refrained from declaring Elahi the chief minister. The deputy speaker then announced that Hamza had won the election of chief minister, since the 10 deducted votes reduced Elahi's tally to 176, while Hamza remained on top with 179 based on the letter by Chaudhury Sujaat head of the Party.
This resulted in Pervez Elahi falling short of the numbers and Hamza Shahbaz retaining the Punjab Chief Minister’s slot.
So the contest will now go back to the Supreme Court even as the PTI is planning to launch protests on the streets.
The writing was on the walls as PML-Q leader Moonis Elahi prior to the voting had indicated that his uncle, senior party leader Chaudhry Shujaat, refused to back Imran Khan's candidate. "I have lost and Imran Khan has lost as well but Zardari has won," Moonis quoted his uncle as saying.
Former interior minister Sheikh Rasheed commenting on the developments said that Elahi was the parliamentary leader of PML-Q. "Chaudhry Shujaat had said twice or thrice before that he would back Elahi, but Asif Zardari has, once again, exposed himself."
Zardari Brand of Politics
Spokesperson of the PTI Fawad Chaudhry blamed the situation on what he said as "Zardari politics" —referring to reports of PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari's attempts to garner Shujaat's support for Hamza ahead of the election.
Zardari had spend almost eight hours with Shujaat in his house to wean him away. Photos of the two rocking in Lazy Boy chairs side by side had been doing the rounds in Pakistan indicating how much Zardari had invested in cultivating Shujaat.
Blaming Zardari Fawad said: "This country needs political values. If you have to do Zardari-style politics ... then there's no need to hold elections. Hold auctions instead. Whoever makes a bigger bid may buy the seat," he added as per the Dawn.
Now the ball is in the Supreme Court which has called for complete report of the proceedings before making a judgement. For the day at least Zardari brand of politics has won.