Lahore: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has summoned Deputy Speaker Dost Muhammad Mazari at 2:30 pm today (Saturday) and also issued notices to the newly-elected Chief Minister of Punjab, Hamza Shehbaz and Chief Secretary Punjab.
A three-member bench — headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar — is hearing the case filed by the PTI and PMLQ against the Deputy Speaker’s ruling at the Supreme Court’s Lahore registry.
Today’s hearing
At the outset of today’s hearing, PTI’s counsel Ali Zafar informed the court about the assembly proceedings that took place during the election on Friday.
Barrister Zafar said that there were 370 lawmakers in the provincial legislature when the election took place. “186 votes for Pervez Elahi while Hamza Shahbaz got 179 votes,” he argued and added that constitutionally Elahi won the CM election.
He said that the deputy speaker rejected 10 votes in his ruling citing the Supreme Court order in Article 63A interpretation case and ignoring the role of the parliamentary party.
At this, CJP Bandial said the court would summon Dupty Speaker Dost Mazari and issue notices to other parties as well.
CM Punjab election
Deputy Speaker Dost Muhammad Mazari made a controversial decision during Friday’s election of a new Punjab CM by rejecting 10 votes cast in favour of Pervez Elahi by the PLMQ lawmakers.
The decision left the PTI-backed PMLQ’s Pervez Elahi with 176 votes despite getting 186 against Hamza Shehbaz, who got 179 votes.
Following this, PTI’s Raja Basharat engaged in a heated argument with Mazari and said that the deputy speaker could not disregard the 10 votes. He argued that this was completely in contradiction with the Constitution of Pakistan, which clearly states that it is the “parliamentary leader” and not the “party head” who takes the decision.
After Mazari’s ruling, the leaders of the PTI and the PMLQ filed a petition against the CM Punjab election.
Read: PTI, PMLQ file petition in SC against Dept. Speaker’s ruling
Pervez Elahi’s counsel Aamir Saeed Rawn filed the petition in the SC Lahore Registry late at night, in which Hamza Shahbaz, Deputy Speaker Dost Mazari and the chief secretary were made parties.
