Chaudhry Parvez Elahi returns to Punjab Assembly after 11 years

Chaudhry Parvez Elahi returned to the Punjab Assembly after eleven years and was elected its speaker on Thursday.

The last time Elahi was in the provincial house was in 2007 when he served as provincial chief minister, before the government under former president Pervez Musharraf was dissolved and snap election was called.

Last week, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) which emerged as a majority in the Parliament after the July polls, nominated Elahi, who heads his own faction of the Pakistan Muslim League, to the slot of speaker in the Punjab Assembly.

Elahi's Pakistan Muslim League-Q and the soon-to-rule PTI, have formed an alliance in the centre and the Punjab province. This primarily means that both parties will support each other’s candidates during inter-house election for prime minister, speaker and deputy speaker.

In the 2018 general election, PML-Q secured three seats in the National Assembly and 10 seats (including an independent who later joined their ranks and two women reserved seats) in the Punjab Assembly. Of these, the 73-year-old picked up two national assembly constituencies and one provincial. However, he gave up both his parliamentary seats for a place in the provincial house.

Born to an influential family in Gujrat, Elahi graduated from the Former Christian College in Lahore before completing a diploma in Industrial Management from London.

Since the 1980s, the politician has worn many hats. His initial stint in government began at the local level and by 1985, he was elected to the Punjab Assembly. Thereon, began a winning streak.

He made it to the provincial assembly six times consecutively – in 1985, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1997 and 2002 – from the Pakistan Muslim League platform headed by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

A break from the political party came after the 1999 bloodless coup, which paved the way for General Musharraf to sweep into power.

That year, an accountability watchdog pursued and detained Elahi on corruption charges. In 2000, soon after Nawaz’s dismissal from office, his political party began to rupture at home.

Of the various groupings to emerge, PML-Q, spearheaded by Elahi and his cousin Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, was one that came into a quick agreement with the then President Musharraf. The party launched with only a few dozen likeminded politicians, including Mian Mohammad Azhar, Khurshid Kasur and Syeda Abida Hussain. But that didn’t stop it from winning 69 general seats in the Parliament out of 272 in 2002.

From October 2002 to 2007, the seasoned politician served as the chief minister of Punjab, while Shujaat Hussain was appointed the president of the PML-Q.

PML-Q’s ranks further swelled in 2004, when other smaller factions of the PML –PML-Chattha, PML-Jinnah, PML-Functional and PML-Z – coalesced into it.

However, strangely, none of this translated into electoral strength. After 2008, its presence in the national and Punjab assembly began to decline and it suffered many defections.

Yet, the PML-Q is often referred to as the “King Makers” for their ability to quickly adapt to the changing political dynamics and align themselves with the ruling party.

After the 2008 polls, Elahi formed an alliance with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and was first appointed minister for industries and defence production and as deputy prime minister in 2011.

These days, Elahi is firmly in the camp of Imran Khan’s PTI.

He will now serve his second term as speaker of the Punjab Assembly after his short stint in 1997.