Pakistan's Punjab Province election for new CM postponed

Pakistan's Punjab Assembly Secretary Muhammad Khan Bhatti on Saturday said that voting for electing the new Punjab Chief Minister (CM) would not take place on Saturday.

Addressing the media, Bhatti said that in today's assembly, a new date for the election of Punjab Province CM would be issued and "there will be no [other] proceeding," Dawn reported.

Bhatti did not give any reason behind postponing the voting but did say that it was the assembly Speaker's right to set the date for voting.

Earlier, the voting for the new leader of the Punjab province was scheduled to begin at 11 am on Saturday.

Punjab province Governor, Chaudhry Muhamad Sarwar accepted the resignation of Chief Minister Usman Buzdar on Friday, after the PTI announced to support PML-Q in Punjab province.Following the acceptance of the resignation, the Punjab cabinet was dissolved, reported Geo TV on Friday.

The Joint Opposition had submitted a no-confidence motion against Chief Minister of Punjab Usman Buzdar in the Punjab Assembly, citing that they had been "dissatisfied with his performance."

Sarwar sought approval from Imran Khan before taking his final decision, sources said, adding that he has summoned a session of the Punjab Assembly on Saturday to elect the new leader of the House, reported Geo TV.

Earlier today, the estranged leader of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Jahangir Khan Tareen said that he will support the Opposition's joint candidate, Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) leader Hamza Shahbaz for the position of Punjab's Chief Minister slot.

This step was another shock for Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan as PTI announced that they will support Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) in Punjab province.

This announcement followed talks held in London between former senior PML-N leader and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar with the PTI's estranged leader, Tareen.

The two sides discussed the upcoming voting for the no-confidence motion against Pakistan's ruling party led by Prime Minister Imran Khan scheduled on Sunday and also discussed the election of Pakistan's Punjab province chief minister, Geo TV reported citing sources.

Meanwhile, all efforts of Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) leader Moonis Elahi went in vain as they wanted Tahreen to support Pervaiz Elahi as Punjab CM.

Just a few minutes before Tareen made the announcement, Moonis had a four-hour-long meeting with Tareen and other lawmakers who are associated with Tahreen but the meeting did not end on a positive note, according to Geo TV.

( With inputs from ANI )

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