Daily Times

LAHORE: Tall claims by the government and the opposition of winning the vacant NA-120 seat echoed in the Punjab Assembly during the Private Member’s Day session on Tuesday.

The attendance of women legislators of the ruling party also remained thin due to their participation in the campaign for Begum Kulsoom Nawaz in by-election.

Due to less presence of women legislators of the ruling PML-N in the House, the government failed to complete the quorum that was pointed out by opposition member Dr Murad Rass and the session was adjourn until today (Wednesday).

Both the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) started hue and cry and shouted slogans against each other’s leadership like “Go Shehbaz Go” and “Ro Imran Ro” after provincial minister Khalil Tahir Sindhu claimed that his party would win the NA-120 by-election with a huge margin. PTI legislators while protesting in the House accused the government, especially ministers, of intervening in the free and fair conduct of by-election in the constituency NA-120 by running the PML-N candidate’s campaign and using public resources to manoeuvre the votes. Khalil Tahir Sindhu while replying to the opposition leader’s demand of seeking resignation from Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif following the verdict of the Lahore High Court in the sugar mills case said that he (opposition leader) had lost his senses and was not observing his own wrongdoings.

He said that the PTI had received notices from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) over violation of code of conduct in by-election and in the foreign funding case. He further said that the PTI’s fate had been sealed, so its members had lost their senses and started a wrong trend of involving institutes in politics.

Chief whip of the PML-N in Punjab Assembly Rana Arshad also strongly criticised the opposition while talking about the by-election and said that absconders of judiciary and agents of Jewish lobby were collecting funds from across the world for by-election and to implement the agenda of the enemies of Pakistan in the country. Arshad said that when they failed to implement the agenda, they started trying to get revenge in the by-election, “but the people of Lahore will give their decision in favour of Nawaz Sharif on the polling day on September 17”.

Earlier, on a point of order, PTI-backed opposition leader in the House Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed urged Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif to step down voluntarily following the verdict of the court in the case of his family’s sugar mills installed in prohibited areas of the province.

He also urged Speaker Rana Iqbal to hear the reference of his party filed in his office against the Punjab CM. On this occasion, he also thanked the courts for giving verdict in the Sharif family sugar mills case.