Lahore (Web Desk) Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Hamza Shahbaz on Saturday took oath as Punjab Chief Minister following a three-vote victory against Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) joint candidate Pervez Elahi.
Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman administered oath to the newly re-elected chief minister.
PML-N leader at a ceremony attended by key party leaders, including Ahsan Iqbal and Rana Mashood, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leaders.
On Friday, Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Dost Muhammad Mazari rejected 10 votes of PML-Q MPAs cast in favour of Chaudhry Pervez Elahi and retained PML-N’s Hamza Shahbaz as chief minister of Punjab.
The deputy speaker said he rejected these votes in the light of a letter issued by PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain who directed his party's lawmakers to vote for Hamza Shahbaz.
According to Mazari, Hamza received 179 votes whereas Elahi garnered 176 votes, but only after 10 votes of Elahi’s own party were not counted, which turned the tables in Hamza’s favour.
In line with the ruling of the Supreme Court (SC) verdict on Article 63-A related to the defection clause, the deputy speaker said he had rejected the votes of PML-Q lawmakers.
It is the second time that Hamza defeated Pervez Elahi in the election for Punjab CM slot. The last time he had secured victory on April 16, his oath-taking had been delayed for days with then-governor, Omer Sarfraz Cheema, refusing to administer the oath to him. Eventually, National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf administered the oath to him on April 30, following the Lahore High Court's (LHC) directives.
On the other hand, PML-Q has moved the Supreme Court against the decision of the Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker.
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 have been made parties.