Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf candidate Sardar Usman Ahmed Khan Buzdar was elected as chief minister of Punjab today, ending a 10-year rule of Shahbaz Sharif-led Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government in the country’s most populous province.
Buzdar got 186 votes while his rival and PML-N nominee Hamza Shahbaz bagged 159 votes, Punjab Assembly Speaker Pervaiz Elahi said, announcing the result after the voting in the house.
Hamza is the son of PML-N chief Shahbaz Sharif, who was the chief minister of Punjab from 2008 till 2018.
Chief Minister-elect Buzdar was a member of Sharif’s team in the past.
PTI dominates Punjab Assembly with 179 seats, whereas PML-N has 164 seats in the house.
A support of 186 members, in the 371-members House, is needed for a party to form a new government in the province.
Seven members of the Pakistan Peoples Party remained present in the house but did not cast vote.
The newly-elected chief minister comes from one of the most backward areas of Punjab, the tribal area of Dera Ghazi Khan division, some 400-km from Lahore, the provincial capital.