Islamabad: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has approached the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC) against the verdict of the Lahore High Court, which directed for the recounting of votes cast on April 16’s election of Chief Minister Punjab.
On Friday, the PTI filed a petition in the SC, in which it requested the apex court for an urgent hearing of the petition and to suspend the verdict of the LHC until the matter is decided.
PTI’s Sibtain Khan, Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly, Zainab Umair, Mian Muhammad Aslam Iqbal, Syed Abbas Ali Shah and Ahsan Saleem Bharyar filed the petition.
CM Hamza Shahbaz, Punjab government, Deputy Speaker Punjab Assembly Dost Mohammad Mazari, Governor Punjab’s secretary and PA secretary were named as respondents in the case.
LHC orders recounting of votes
On Thursday, the Lahore High Court (LHC) accepted PTI’s petitions against the election of Hamza Shehbaz as the chief minister and ordered a recounting of votes cast on April 16.
Read: LHC accepts PTI’s petitions against Hamza Shehbaz’s election; orders re-counting
A larger bench of five judges, headed by Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan and comprising Justice Shahid Jamil, Justice Shehram Sarwar, Justice Sajid Mehmood Sethi and Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh, issued the verdict.
Following the hearing, the LHC issued a brief order directing a recount of the votes cast in the April 16 election after eliminating 25 votes cast by the defecting legislators.
However, in the light of Article 130(4) of the Consitution, if Hamza Shehbaz fails to secure 186 votes in the 371-member house, the elections will take place again unless another candidate has majority votes.
In order to be chosen chief minister in the second round of voting, a member just needs to receive the support of the majority of those who are “present and voting,” as stated in Article 130(4).
The court also protected the functions performed during this period and said that the functions performed and powers exercised by Hamza Shahbaz and his Cabinet shall be protected under the “de facto doctrine”.
The court noted clarified that Hamza Shehbaz will cease to be CM if he loses the majority after the exclusion of 25 dissenting PTI votes.
Hamza’s election
Hamza Shehbaz was elected Chief Minister of Punjab on April 16, after securing 197 votes against PTI candidate Pervaiz Elahi. However, 25 of those who voted for Hamza were PTI lawmakers who voted against the party’s directives. Subsequently, the twenty-five members were de-seated by the ECP on May 20.
