Lahore HC issues notices to Hamza Shehbaz on petitions filed by PTI, PML-Q against CM elections

The Lahore High Court on Friday issued notices to Punjab chief minister Hamza Shehbaz and four others on separate petitions filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and PML-Q's leader and Punjab Assembly speaker Chaudhary Parvez Elahi requesting the court to declare CM elections as illegal.

The Lahore High Court on Friday issued notices to Punjab chief minister Hamza Shehbaz and four others on separate petitions filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and PML-Q's leader and Punjab Assembly speaker Chaudhary Parvez Elahi requesting the court to declare CM elections as illegal. The High Court Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti clubbed both the petitions together. Besides Hamza, the court served notices to Punjab chief secretary, Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Sardar Dost Mohammad Mazari, Punjab governor's principal secretary and Punjab Assembly's secretary.

During the hearing, PTI's lawyer Ali Zafar, in his argument, said that a candidate requires 186 votes to win the election, while referring to the Supreme Court's interpretation of Article 63-A, related to the disqualification of lawmakers over defection. It stated, "The scope of Article 63A of the Constitution and its applicability on a particular member's right to cast a vote had been interpreted by the apex court on a presidential reference that the votes of defectors could not be counted," the Dawn reported.

The report said, Justice Bhatti asked that the court be informed from when the SC's interpretation of Article 63-A would be applicable and adjourned the hearing till May 25. The petitioner had asked the court to declare the PML-N's elections unlawful, alleging that the elections were held by forcing members to cast votes in favour of Hamza. It said that in the total votes, 25 votes were from defectors which were also counted in the total votes received by the Punjab CM.

Punjab Assembly speaker Elahi filed a petition against Shehbaz today while another similar joint petition was filed by Sibtain Khan and four other MPAs of the PTI yesterday. Sibtain Khan and four other MPAs of the PTI filed a joint petition saying that the Punjab chief minister's election held on April 16 under the supervision of the provincial assembly deputy speaker whereby Hamza was declared a returned candidate was held without lawful authority, the Dawn newspaper reported.

The petition filed through Advocate Safdar Shaheen Pirzada and Barrister Ali Zafar argued that the Punjab Assembly deputy speaker held a fradulent election involving the unlawful aid from Punjab police and administration. It alleged assault with PTI and PML-Q members and the candidate for chief ministerial post, Chaudhry Pervez Elahi. (ANI)

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