Former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar takes oath as Punjab MPA

Previously, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan could not take oath as member of the Punjab Assembly on Monday due to the absence of Speaker Ch Parvez Elahi and pending court cases.

The former interior minister stated after consulting the people of the constituency for the last few weeks, he has decided to take the oath.

He added that the main purpose of taking the oath is to control the political situation and motives in the constituency.

"It would be a strange logic to leave the seat on one side and then contest the by-election on the other breath. Boycotting the election and leaving the field open would be a bigger political mistake, especially when the general election is two and a half years away."

Chaudhry Nisar has been contesting elections since 1985 and has been elected eight times in a row. In the 2018 elections, he lost the National Assembly seat, but in this constituency, he won the Provincial Assembly seat by a margin of 30,000 votes.

He also alleged that he had been defeated by rigging and did not take the oath of the provincial assembly in protest.

Chaudhry Nisar, who hails from a military family, has been a special member of Nawaz Sharif's "kitchen cabinet".

Chaudhry Nisar has played an important role in the politics of the Muslim League Nawaz for the last three decades due to his friendship with the Sharif brothers.

However, even before the 2018 elections, his long association with the PML-N broke down when he started speaking openly against his leadership after the Panama Leakes and called Maryam Nawaz a 'child' and denied to accept her as a leader.

However, according to political observers, Shahbaz Sharif is very close to Nisar because of the same political ideology and their friendship is still going on.

Earlier, Chaudhry Nisar had also gone to Raiwind to offer condolences on the death of the Sharif brothers' mother some time ago.

According to sources, the irritated PML-N leader has been in contact with former CM Punjab Shehbaz Sharif. He has now decided to become a Punjab Assembly member after at least 3 years of winning the election in Rawalpindi’s constituency PP-10.

Sources further claim that Mr Nisar has informed Punjab Assembly speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi regarding his decision.

Some sections of the media have speculated that Chaudhry Nisar could take oath as soon as Monday.

Earlier, after the federal government unveiled its plans for electoral amendments, Chaudhry Nisar was advised to take the oath, a duty he has not fulfilled since his win in the 2018 general elections.

In its proposed amendments, the government had said that if a member could not take oath within three months, their membership will be suspended.

Both Chaudhry Nisar and Ishaq Dar are at risk of losing their seats.

Nisar has allegedly been in touch with PML-N President, Shehbaz Sharif. It is being speculated that if Nisar takes oath, he might rejoin his old party.