The battle for Punjab Assembly appeared to be turning towards a constitutional crisis on Wednesday, after both parties involved came up with their own interpretation of the rules.

PDM insists that one way or the other, Pervaiz Elahi will leave the CM’s seat soon. PTI, on the other hand, thinks they have all bases covered and things will not even go towars a vote of confidence.

Here is how it played out.

Speaker says a vote can’t be called

Punjab Assembly speaker Sibtain Khan ruled on Tuesday, that the governor’s call for a vote of confidence is against thte rules, since the assembly is still in session. He also promptly postponed the session until Friday.

The speaker said that the governor an summon or end a session as per article 109. However, he did not end the ongoing session, making his call for a vote of confidence illegal.

He added that the governor is free to call a new session after this one ends.

The speaker said that as per a ruling of the highcourt, there must be a 10-day gap before a cote of confidence takes place.

PDM says the CM will lose his seat

On the other side, PDM said that they will make their way to the assembly at 4pm on Wednesday and the CM will lose his seat even if the vote does not happen.

In a meeting under Shehbaz Sharif, the PDM agreed that the speaker’s ruling is completely wrong, and if the vote does not happen the governor will simplify de-notify CM Pervaiz Elahi.

Governor raj?

Just before PML-N’s 4pm deadline, containers started arriving outside the chief minister secretariat. Although it wasn’t clear who ordered them to be placed.

As rumours of governor raj being possibly imposed circulated, Fawad Chaudhry told the governor to ‘refrain’ from any unconstitutional action.

“Under what law will governor raj be imposed? It cannot happen,” Fawad said.