Fact-check: Punjab chief minister has appointed 32 political assistants since taking power

Various estimates have emerged on social and conventional media about the total number of political assistants appointed by the chief minister of Punjab, ranging from a dozen to two dozen.

Claim

As per reports by the local media, published in September, in the last two months, the chief minister of Punjab has designated “more than 30 political assistants” to facilitate him.

While Rafi Ullah, the media person to the chief minister, told Geo Fact Check that there are around 10-12 political assistants.

Then on October 3, a tweet placed the number of political assistants at 13, further adding that they have also been provided official vehicles.

Fact

From July 26, when Parvez Elahi took oath as Punjab chief minister, till October 10, he has appointed 32 political assistants in the province.

Copies of the official notifications have been seen by Geo Fact Check.

The designated political assistants are namely: Amir Nawaz Khan, Amjad Mehmood, Asif Gondal, Samina Khawar Hayat, Zubair Ahmed Khan, Shakeel Atta ullah Virk, Muhammad Zulfiqar, Haq Nawaz, Zulfiqar Ali Ghuman, Tanveer Azam Cheema, Shakeel Sikandar, Muhamamd Umar, Shahid Ali, Muhammad Talha Sandhu, Tariq Zaman, Arif Chaudhry, Rizwan Mukhtar Randhawa, Amir Nadeem, Qamar Hayat, Sadaf Tanveer, Mian Abdul Rasheed, Faraz Asghar, Zain Ali Bhatti, Safia Javed, Salman Zafar, Sajjad Haider Cheema, Haq Nawaz Bhalli, Irfan Ihsan, Liaquat Gondal, Urooj Raza Sayyami, Ali Farrukh and Ans Aslam.

They have been appointed on an “honorary and non-remunerative basis” as per the notifications.

Apart from the 32 political assistants, the chief minister has 22 provincial ministers, three advisers, three special assistants and three parliamentary secretaries.

It is unclear what the exact role of the 32 political assistants will be, however, last month a petition was filed in the Lahore High Court stating that the appointments of the political assistants were illegal, as no such post was defined in the law.

The petitioner further argued that it was clearly mentioned in the notification that the said appointments were honorary and are not supposed to receive any remunerations, perks and privileges. “But according to sources all…political assistants have been rewarded with one official government vehicle, office, PS and driver with fuel,” the petition read.

The court dismissed the petition after the counsel asked for the petition to be withdrawn.

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