Daily Times

The PTI on Thursday disputed the number of votes garnered by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during the vote of confidence, saying the premier had lost the trust of parliament as 20 votes were cast by their dissident members, while terming the victory a “big defeat” for the premier and the coalition government of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM). Fawad Chaudhry claimed that the premier had lost the confidence of the House, as 20 lawmakers, who voted in his favour, were disgruntled legislators of the PTI. “(PM) Shehbaz Sharif has lost confidence of the majority of members [of parliament]. Vote of 20 members of the assembly cannot be counted in the prime minister’s favour as they belong to the PTI. Therefore, Shehbaz Sharif gained the support of only 160 members instead of 172,” the PTI leader tweeted. “Today’s vote (of confidence) is a big defeat for Shehbaz Sharif and PDM,” he continued. The National Assembly has a total of 342 seats and a party needs at least 172 votes to form the government.

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Thursday took a dig at the PTI leaders, saying they lacked mathematical skills, and clarified that the number of votes for PM Shehbaz would have been 181 if the speaker had also cast his vote. Today, neither was there any RTS (Result Transmission System), nor any secret ballot or any hidden cameras were found, he said.