PTI to investigate MNAs who voted for Gilani: Governor Ismail

• Governor Sindh says PM Imran decided on his own to take vote of confidence.
• "Everyone knows what happened in Hafeez Sheikh's case," says Imran Ismail.
• Fawad Chaudhry says they do not know the names of parliamentarians who voted for Gilani against the party line.

ISLAMABAD: Sindh Governor Imran Ismail said Saturday that the PTI would probe the matter of 16 of its MNAs voting for the Opposition candidate in Islamabad in the Senate polls.

The governor was talking to media in Islamabad, where he had come to observe the proceedings of the National Assembly for a vote of confidence in Prime Minister Imran Khan.

He was speaking ahead of the vote. 

"The party will investigate the Senate vote. It will become clear who those 16 lawmakers are," Ismail said, referring to the March 3 polls in the National Assembly for the Islamabad general seat, for which the Opposition's candidate, former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, defeated the PTI's Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh.

Read more: After Senate setback, PM Imran Khan ready for vote of confidence

Gilani, representing the Pakistan Democratic Movement, had bagged 169 votes against 164 for the government’s candidate, prompting calls from the Opposition for PM Imran to resign.

He said the prime minister wanted to show that the NA has trust in him and he took the step (of seeking a vote of confidence) on his own.

"Everyone knows what happened in Hafeez Sheikh's case," the senior PTI leader said, referring to allegations of corruption and vote buying leveled against the PPP. 

Read more: ECP responds to PM Imran Khan's criticism

PTI unaware who voted for Gilani

A day earlier, Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry had said they (the party) did not know the names of the parliamentarians who had voted for Gilani against the party line.

Talking in Geo News programme Naya Pakistan, he said, “A total of 179 members will poll their votes for Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday [in the vote of confidence]."

"PTI has already expelled 20 members [in the past] for violating party rules,” he added.

“The prime minister did not talk about not proceeding against those 16 members who were found guilty. If Ali Zaidi has given any names to the prime minister, then I do not know,” he said.

“We have no proof who took money for the vote. Our woman candidate got 174 votes, while five votes were rejected, and these are our total numbers,” he added.

He said it was the responsibility of the Election Commission to decide about videos and audios.

“At present, we are concentrating on the vote of confidence,” he said.