Elahi successful in vote of confidence Punjab Assembly speaker.

Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, in a typically chaotic session held during early hours of Thursday, managed to get a vote of confidence from the Punjab Assembly after the opposition walked out claiming that the vote was 'bulldozed' and 'unconstitutional'.

Speaker Sibtain Khan, who presided the session, said that Elahi had received 186 votes - exactly the number required to retain his position and one less than 187 that PTI leaders had claimed to have prior to voting.

Ahead of the voting, government and opposition lawmakers had renewed hostilities around the speaker's dais and engaged each other in angry jostling. Shortly after, the opposition MPAs staged a boycott of the session and walked out.

Outside the Punjab Assembly, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah labelled the session's proceedings 'against the rules and Constitution', and accused the speaker of 'bulldozing' the vote of confidence.

Sanaullah and another PML-N leader Ata Tarar said that the vote of confidence will be challenged in the court.

Earlier, PTI Vice President Fawad Chaudhry said that the PTI-PML-Q coalition had the support of 187 MPAs - a claim reiterated by Mian Mahmoodur Rashid.

The PA session, which began around 5pm on Wednesday, witnessed chaos for a third day running as the opposition reiterated its demand for Elahi to seek the confidence vote.

The session began hours after the Lahore High Court (LHC) extended the 'interim relief' of reinstating Elahi as chief minister till Jan 12, adding that the chief minister couldn't dissolve assembly until 9am tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Elahi - who had met with PTI chief Imran Khan earlier in the day - arrived at the PA shortly after 10pm.

Speaking on ARY News from the assembly hall, Fawad said: 'The numbers for the confidence vote are complete.'

He said that the PTI-PML-Q alliance was currently waiting for some lawmakers who were en route to the PA from various other cities in the province. He said that the confidence vote would be held as soon as they arrived.

Fawad also said that from a legal perspective, the vote could be held at any time since the session was still under way. He commended lawmakers for rejecting bribes offered to switch their loyalties.

When asked what about the plan of action if the confidence vote was held, Fawad said the party would then withdraw the petition from the high court and forward the summaries for dissolving the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies by tomorrow morning.

Questioned about his...