As soon as the parliament reaffirmed its support in Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif through 180 votes in favour of a confidence resolution, Fawad Chaudhry claimed that the matter had actually been a defeat.
Taking to Twitter right after the vote, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader claimed that the 180 number had been achieved by the support of 20 dissident PTI members, and the actual support Shehbaz enjoyed is 160.
“Today’s vote is a huge defeat for Shehbaz Sharif and PeeDM,” he wrote.
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah responded that Fawad Chaudhry’s arithmetic seemed to be ‘weak’ because the government enjoys 180 votes and the speaker’s vote would have made it 181. He added that people who ‘steal votes’ usually count wrong.
“There was no secret ballot and no RTS crash,” the interior minister said.
Muhammad Afzal Khan Dhandla, parliamentary leader of the dissident PTI group, told Aaj News also denied Fawad Chaudhry’s claim.
“No one elected on a PTI ticket voted for Shehbaz Sharif,” he said.
A look at the the latest party position shows that the ruling alliance does have 181 votes in total.
| Party | Seats |
|---|---|
| PMLN | 85 |
| PPP | 58 |
| MMA | 13 |
| MQM | 07 |
| BAP | 05 |
| BNP | 04 |
| PMLQ | 03 |
| ANP | 01 |
| JWP | 01 |
| Ind | 04 |
| Total | 181 |
Therefore, with the overall party position and Dhandla’s statement considered, all signs point to the fact that the the PM did not need PTI dissident votes to get to 180 votes.
