The surprise re-election of Hamza Shehbaz as chief minister of Punjab is being celebrated by the ruling party, but the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) has criticized the result as an assault on democracy and a violation of an order from the Supreme Court.
PTI Take Legal Action:
After his father, former President Asif Ali Zardari, was successful in rallying support from PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain to keep the PML-N in power in Punjab, Foreign Minister and Chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari tweeted, “Aik Zardari Sab Pe Bhaari” (one Zardari outweighs all).
Hamza Shehbaz, who earned 179 votes against Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi’s 186, was announced to have been elected as the new chief minister of the province of Punjab by Muhammad Mazari, the deputy speaker of the Punjab Assembly.
Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi received 186 votes. Mazari justified his decision by referring to a letter written by PML-Q chairman Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, in which Hussain stated that Mazari should not accept the ten votes that had been cast for Elahi by members of the PML-Q.
“Chaudhry Shujaat Sahib took a principled decision despite the pressure and earned respect and dignity,” said PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz of Chaudhry Shujaat’s decision to back her party in the CM election.
Maryam Nawaz was referring to Chaudhry Shujaat’s decision to support her party in the election for chief minister.
Maryam stated that Imran’s use of power tactics had resulted in a rift within the Gujarat Chaudhry family and that he had also removed Chaudhary Pervaiz Elahi from his position as speaker as a result of the decision made by the Supreme Court.
Maryam also stated that Imran had retaliated against Chaudhary Pervaiz Elahi. It appears that wherever he goes, he leaves a path of devastation in his wake.
“Maryam Nawaz and some journalists are declaring without reading the order of the Supreme Court that today’s ruling is in agreement with the decision of the Supreme Court,” said Fawad Chaudhry, the leader of the PTI, after posting an excerpt from the supreme court’s verdict on Article 63-A. Fawad Chaudhry was responding to statements made by Maryam Nawaz and certain journalists.
In another one of his tweets, Fawad referred to the Deputy Speaker of the Punjab Assembly as a “shameless person.”
Read : Elahi challenged the ruling of the deputy speaker in the Supreme Court
A former minister at the federal level named Asad Umar made the following remark: “The eyes of the entire nation are on the highest court of justice to determine if the door of justice will be opened tonight or not.”
After that, a letter originating in Qatar was received. Now, a letter has been received from Gujarat, and the leader of the PTI, Ali Zaidi, has promised that they will “fall flat on their faces again.”
As a direct response to the letter written by the PML-Q party chairman, the Deputy Speaker of the Punjab Assembly, Dost Mohammad Mazari, issued an order the previous night mandating that the votes cast by party members not be counted, so declaring Hamza Shehbaz the victor.
Mazari claimed that Hamza won the election with 179 votes to Elahi’s 176 votes after eliminating 10 ballots from Elahi’s own party’s ballots.
In accordance with the judgment made by the Supreme Court about Article 63-A, which dealt with the defection, the Deputy Speaker said that he had disregarded the votes of PML-Q MPs.
The SCBA initially submitted a petition to the Supreme Court requesting a review of the court’s judgment on the presidential referral about the interpretation of Article 63A, which is about the status of the defecting lawmakers.
