PMLQ leader Chaudhry Moonis Elahi, an MNA from NA-69(Gujrat-II), has been given a portfolio of Minister for Water Resources in a latest cabinet addition by Prime Minister Imran khan. The ministry was vacant since Faisal Vawda resigned in March this year.
PML-Q already has one ministry under its belt in the shape of Tariq Bashir Cheema, who is Federal Minister for Housing and Works.
PML-Q is a coalition partner of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf in the National Assembly and has seven MNAs.
Moonis is the son of Speaker Punjab Assembly Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and received a BBA degree in 1999 from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Moonis Elahi ran for the Provincial Assembly of Punjab as a candidate of the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) (PML (Q)) from two constituencies (Lahore and Gujrat) in 2008 Pakistani general election. He won the Gujrat constituency but was unsuccessful in the Lahore constituency where he lost the seat to a candidate of the Pakistan Muslim League (N).
In March this year, Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda resigned from his National Assembly seat and submitted the same to the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday, with his lawyer contending that a dual nationality case against the lawmaker was “not valid now”.
Vawda casted his vote in the Senate elections ahead of his lawyer submitting the resignation in the court during the hearing of a petition seeking the minister’s disqualification from the National Assembly since he was a dual nationality holder at the time of filing his nomination papers for the 2018 general elections. Justice Amir Farooq heard the case.
“Faisal Vawda has resigned from the National Assembly which is why this petition has become invalid,” the lawyer said.