Second phase of local govt polls underway in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa amid Pak political crisis

Amid the ongoing political chaos in Pakistan, the second phase of polling of local government in the remaining 18 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) is underway.

The second phase election started on Thursday at 8 am and will continue till 5 pm, according to Geo TV. In the first phase of the election, the ruling party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) suffered a major setback as the opposition parties won the clear majority, especially Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F).After the first election, JUI-F emerged victorious by winning 23 seats of tehsil chairpersons and three mayoral seats while KP’s ruling party, PTI stood in the second position, Geo TV reported.

Not only in a local government election, but it seems that PTI is also losing the support of the members of the National Assembly as Pakistan Prime Minister recently lost their ally, Muttahida Qaumi Movement – Pakistan. (MQM-P)MQM-P decided to join hands with the opposition to support them in the no-confidence motion against Imran Khan.

After this development, the government has lost its majority in the lower house of the Pakistan parliament and even in the no-confidence motion against Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, which is expected to take place on April 3, Geo TV reported. With 177 members, the Opposition has now more numbers of supporters in the national assembly and they don’t need the support of disgruntled PTI MNAs. While on other hand the Pakistani government has only 164 members in the parliament.

The Pakistani National Assembly has a total strength of 342 members, with the majority mark being 172. The PTI-led coalition was formed with the support of 179 members, but now, after MQM-P left the party, PTI is standing with 164 members in support and the Opposition has now 177 members of supporters in the national assembly and they don’t need the support of disgruntled PTI MNAs.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s former Finance Minister Ishaq Dar held talks with estranged PTI leader Jahangir Khan Tareen over the current political situation in the country, local media reported citing sources on Wednesday.Both the leaders also spoke about the no-confidence motion moved against Usman Buzdar in the Punjab Assembly. Buzdar has submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Imran Khan but the resignation is yet to be accepted, Geo News reported citing sources within the PML-N and Jahangir Tareen group.The no-confidence motion was submitted by the opposition parties on March 8. The opposition is confident that its motion would be carried as some allies of PTI have come out in the open against Imran Khan.