Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: A three-member bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday declared Deputy Speaker Dost Muhammad Mazari’s ruling on Punjab chief minister’s election null and void and ruled that Pervez Elahi will be the new CM of the province.

The apex court also ordered that Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman administer the oath to Elahi at 11:30pm. In case the Punjab governor does not administer the oath to Elahi, President Dr. Arif Alvi can do so instead, the court ruled.

The SC also nullified all appointments made by ‘trustee CM’ Hamza Shahbaz. The court also ordered Hamza Shehbaz to vacate the Chief Minister Office immediately.

The proceedings went on for three days  Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday as lawyers from all the parties presented their arguments. The coalition government demanded for a full court bench to hear the case but the apex court hearing arguments from all sides for nearly eight hours on Monday, the SC decided not to form a full court bench.

In spite of the ruling coalition partners’ boycott of the court proceedings, the Supreme Court on Tuesday resumed hearing on Punjab Assembly Speaker Pervaiz Elahi’s petition regarding the election of the chief minister.

The petition filed by the opposition parties challenging the decision of Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Dost Mazari regarding the election of the chief minister was being heard by a three-member bench presided over by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Umar Ata Bandial and made up of Justices Ejaz-ul-Ahsan and Justice Muneeb Akhtar.

Re-election of CM Punjab

During the election on Friday, Mazari rejected all 10 votes cast by the PML-Q on the pretext that they had violated the orders of their party chief, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, citing a letter he received from the patriarch which said he was asking his party lawmakers to back Hamza.

Elahi received 186 votes, while Hamza received 179, according to the deputy speaker’s announcement following the tallying of the ballots. However, he refrained from declaring Elahi the chief minister.

Elahi had asked the court to declare the deputy speaker’s decision that resulted in Hamza’s reelection as “bogus and false” in his petition.

“Hamza Shehbaz may kindly be declared disqualified as the Punjab chief minister/ member of the provincial assembly,” the petition read.