Hamza Shehbaz takes oath as Chief Minister Punjab

Lahore: Hamza Shehbaz on Saturday took oath as the new Chief Minister of Punjab at a ceremony held at the Governor’s House after getting elected by the Punjab Assembly by securing 197 votes against PTI and PMLQ candidate Pervaiz Elahi on April 16.

The newly-elected Chief Minister becomes the 21st to hold the office. The oath-taking ceremony was attended by PMLN vice-president Maryam Nawaz and other members of the party.

Following the orders of the Lahore High Court, which directed National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to administer the oath to Punjab Chief Minister-elect Hamza Shahbaz, the speaker arrived in Lahore on Friday.

Read: LHC directs NA speaker to administer oath to Hamza today

The biggest province of Pakistan, Punjab, which continued to run without a chief minister, witnessed constitutional and administrative crises following the resignation of former Chief Minister Usman Buzdar.

Read: Punjab CM Buzdar presents his resignation to PM Imran

Following the resignation of Usman Buzdar and the subsequent election of Hamza Shehbaz, Governor Punjab Umar Sarfaraz Cheema played delaying tactics to prolong the administering oath to Chief Minister-elect Hamza Shehbaz.

However, on Friday, the Lahore High Court (LHC), on the petition of Hamza Shehbaz, directed Speaker Ashraf to administer the oath to Hamza on Saturday (today) at 11:30 am.

During the hearing, Justice Jawad Hassan had asked Hamza’s lawyer why his client was not filing a case of contempt of court. At this, the lawyer said, for the time being, Hamza wanted to present the matter of the oath-taking before the court.

However, he did not rule out the option of filing a contempt of court case. The judge said LHC Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti’s orders — where he directed the governor and president separately to administer the oath to Hamza — were not being obeyed.

“This is a matter of the court’s respect. No one should have the guts to challenge the high court’s decisions,” Justice Hassan said.

Hamza’s lawyer, while presenting his arguments before the judge, said the government was violating the Constitution by not administering the oath to the chief minister-elect.