From 544 votes to provincial head, here’s how Bizenjo dashed to CM House

QUETTA - Election of Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo, a lawmaker of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), as 23rd chief minister of Balochistan not only ends PML-N coalition government, but is also enough to make history in other ways.

Bizenjo, who had moved the motion of no-confidence against former CM Sanaullah Zehri, managed to bag 41 votes in the 65-member house. But, a thing that make his selection different from others is number of votes which he got during 2013 General Elections. His victory was then described as a 'Balochistan miracle'.

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The new CM had taken part in the general elections from Awaraan (PP-41) on the ticket of PML-Q, which faced historic defeat in all other provinces. Interestingly, he had made it to the provincial assembly with just 544 votes out of the 57,666 registered votes in the constituency.

In PB-41, the turnout was 1.18 per cent, while only 672 people cast their vote.The runner-up managed to bag only 95 votes. The turnover was too low as the separatist groups had boycotted the 2013 elections.

Former chief ministers Sanaulla Zehri and Abdul Malik received 9421 votes and 4539 votes respectively during general elections.

Today, Balochistan has elected the third chief executive in a span of around four and a half years and the latest selection comes on the heels of resignation by Sanauallah Zehri, who assumed the post in December 2015, but relinquished the charge owing to a no-trust move tabled against him by disgruntled Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) legislators as well as opposition parties.

A total 54 votes were polled by the lawmakers and Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party’s (PkMAP) Agha Syed Liaquat Ali bagged 13 votes.

Another PkMap candidate Abdul Rahim Ziyaratwal, who had filed his nominations, had withdrawn from the race at the last moment.

Born in 1974, the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid first became a lawmaker in 2002 and remained Deputy Speaker from 2013-15.

He has also served as the livestock minister and holds a Masters degree in English from University of  Balochistan.