QUETTA: To prove their loyalty, members of Balochistan Assembly were asked to openly violate the parliamentary code of ethics by showing their votes during secret balloting on a no-confidence motion against Speaker Muhammad Aslam Bhootani, an MPA said on Thursday.
The provincial assembly had adopted a no-trust motion against the Speaker on Wednesday. Except JUI (F) members, the members from PPP and PML (Q) showed their marked ballots to two senior officers of the Chief Minister’s Secretariat.
“I was assured release of frozen funds after voting against Speaker (Bhootani),” one of the female members told this scribe on condition of anonymity.
The MPA claimed she was asked to show the ballot after casting her vote.
“I did what they had demanded,” she said.
Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani had spent a week in Quetta to get the support of coalition partners and independent candidates to oust Bhootani.
Newly appointed opposition leader Nawabzada Tariq Magsi objected over the assembly proceedings thus walking out of the house.
PPP Balochistan President Mir Sadiq Umrani and Jan Ali Changezi also walked out of the house to record their protest.
Differences surfaced in the Balochistan cabinet as around 19 members abstained from voting.
“The absent 19 members were my supporters”, Bhootani told a press conference on Wednesday. He has already announced that he will challenge the no-confidence motion in the Court.
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