PM Modi Extends Congratulations To Pakistan's New Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif

Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose X to extend congratulations to the newly elected Pakistan Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party on Tuesday.

Shehbaz Sharif secured his second term as Pakistan's Prime Minister on Sunday, with 201 votes in parliament, amidst protests. His party, the PML-N, will lead a coalition government alongside Bilawal Bhutto Zardari's Pakistan People's Party (PPP).

Photo Credit: PTI

PM Modi wishes Shehbaz Sharif

Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, PM Modi wrote, "Congratulations to @CMShehbaz on being sworn in as the Prime Minister of Pakistan".

PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif endorsed his younger brother Shehbaz Sharif for the prime minister's position and party loyalist Sardar Ayaz Sadiq for the speaker of the national assembly role. As part of the PML-N-PPP alliance deal, it was decided that Nawaz Sharif's daughter, Maryam Nawaz, would become the chief minister of Punjab province.

Maryam, the political heir of Nawaz, took the oath on February 26 and became the country's first woman chief minister of any province. The other part of the deal stipulated that PPP's senior leader, former Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari, would assume the President's post.

In the elections held on February 8, Sharif's Nawaz PML-N party secured the second position. Independent candidates supported by imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) obtained the highest number of seats but fell short of achieving a parliamentary majority.

Pakistan election results

As per Pakistan's constitution, it is mandated that a party must secure 133 out of the 265 contested seats in the 266-member national assembly to establish a government.

• Ninety-three out of 265 seats in the national assembly were won by independent candidates aligned with Imran Khan's PTI.
• Victory in 75 seats in the national assembly was secured by PML-N, led by Nawaz Sharif.
• Fifty-four seats in the national assembly were obtained by the Pakistan People's Party (PPP).
• Seventeen seats were attained by Karachi-based Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P), representing Urdu-speaking migrants from India during partition.
• The election for one seat was postponed due to the death of a candidate.