Election of new CM will be held on 22nd July after the bye-election on 20 constituencies of Punjab going to be held on 17th July: SC
Court declares that Muhammad Hamza Shahbaz Sharif will continue as chief minister Punjab till 22nd July
ISLAMABAD ( Web News )
Special Bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail has declared that the election of new chief minister Punjab will be held on 22nd July after the bye-election on 20 constituencies of Punjab going to be held on 17th July. The court has declared that Muhammad Hamza Shahbaz Sharif will continue as chief minister Punjab till 22nd July. The court has declared that the run of election of chief minister Punjab will be held on 22nd July and the candidate having majority of the MPAs present in the assembly on that day will be elected new chief minister Punjab. The court will issue the written order later on. The hearing of the case was started at 1:30 PM and ended at nearly 6:00 PM. The court adjourned hearing on the petitions four times in nearly four hours long hearing.
Supreme Court heard the petitions field by Mohammad Sibtain Khan and others v. Province of Punjab through its Chief Secretary, Lahore and others. Dr. Babar Awan, Imtiaz Rashid Siddiqui, Amir Saeed, Faisal Fareed Hussain and Muhammad Ali Bokhari appeared on behalf of Muhammad Sabtain Kahn, Chaudhry Parvez Elahi and others. Muhammad Hamza Shahbaz Sharif and Chaudhry Parvez Elahi appeared at Supreme Court Lahore Registry on summons of the special bench. The PTI had filed a plea in the top court seeking the annulment of Lahore High Court’s (LHC) decision that had ordered the governor to hold the elections for the Punjab CM’s slot today at 4pm.
During Friday’s hearing, after much back and forth, Punjab Assembly Speaker Pervez Elahi — a contender for the CM’s slot — had initially agreed that Hamza Shahbaz could remain the chief minister till July 17, but the PTI disagreed.
In a bid to break the deadlock, the top court directed Elahi to speak to PTI Chairman Imran Khan and come up with a solution — as it adjourned the hearing for the third time.
After the hearing resumed, all the parties agreed that Hamza Shehbaz would remain the chief minister till July 17.
In a 4-1 split decision a day earlier, the LHC wrapped up PTI’s case against Hamza’s election to the CM’s slot, while ordering to recount of the votes cast during the Punjab chief executive’s election but with the exclusion of 25 PTI dissidents’ votes, in line with the apex court’s interpretation of Article 63(A).
But in its bid to remove Hamza from the post of Punjab chief minister, PTI had earlier in the day approached the SC to challenge the orders of the LHC to hold a vote recount on the CM poll — which was held on April 16.
The SC accepted the plea for an immediate hearing earlier in the day and formed a three-member special bench.
At the outset of the hearing, PTI leader Babar Awan appeared before the court while PTI’s counsel attended the hearing through video link.
Starting his arguments, Awan informed the court that all of the PTI lawmakers are not present in Lahore as some have gone to perform Hajj while some are attending family events.
At this, Justice Ijazul Ahsan remarked that he doesn’t agree with waiting before the voting if any member is absent.
Meanwhile, the CJP said the PTI’s plea seeks time for the lawmakers who are not in the provincial capital as they are away for several reasons — marriages and performing religious obligations.
“So why should the Supreme Court intervene in this? Does the PTI want the court to give it more time? Should we intervene in LHC’s decision?” the CJP questioned.
The chief justice said that the LHC order mentions that the date for voting will be today. “Are you ready for it?” he asked, at which PTI sought seven days for re-polling.
The CJP responded to the request by saying that the lawmakers present in the country should have been able to reach Lahore within a day.
“How much time is required for your lawmakers to reach Lahore? Do you want Punjab to remain without a chief minister for seven days?” the chief justice wondered.
CJP Bandial asked if the CM is not in the office, then who runs the province.
Moving on, Justice Ahsan said a question remains on whether the session for re-voting of the CM will be held at 4pm today or not.
“Persuade us that the session should not be held today, then we will decide whether it should be called today or not,” he told the PTI lawyers.
He also wondered that whether there is a section in the constitution that allows the imposition of governor rule till the election of the CM.
PTI counsel Faisal Chaudhry maintained that PTI has 169 members if the 25 dissidents are excluded. “This means you don’t have the majority,” CJP Bandial remarked.
At this, Chaudhry said that no one in the Punjab Assembly has the majority.
Meanwhile, Siddiqui maintained that the governor runs the provincial affairs till the election of the CM.
CJ Bandial snapped saying that a by-election on 20 seats is slated for July 17.
“How can we stop the province from working till the by-election,” he remarked, adding that handing the reins to the governor would be unconstitutional. “We understand PTI’s concern but I don’t think the province should be left without a CM,” the CJ remarked.
“Both parties to face difficulty if they don’t agree on re-poll,” CJ Bandial stated.
The CJ said that the court is not issuing any order to hold the Punjab Assembly session as per schedule, therefore, the session shouldn’t be started till the hearing is underway.
He said that the court will resume the hearing at 3:45 and wrap up by 4:00 PM as the CJP summoned Hamza Shahbaz and Pervez Elahi.
When Elahi and Hamza arrived at the hearing, the CJP asked the Punjab Assembly as to what should be the course of action.
Elahi said that both sides could give a mutual decision after consultation. At this, Justice Ahsan said that “both of you should have come to the court after consultations.”
The judge asked Hamza what he had to say. At this, the PML-N leader said no person is unexpandable and that the country’s system should operate uninterrupted.
Hamza said that the coalition has the numbers and asked the court to allow the election to take place today.
At this, Justice Ahsan said that the 4pm deadline set by the LHC is up and that the judges would give a decision of their own — as the parties were not able to reach a consensus.
Responding to the judge, Hamza said that the election can also take place on July 17 — the day when by-polls take place. To this, Justice Ahsan asked Hamza whether he was ready to remain out of the CM’s Office till July 17.
The PML-N leader responded by saying that the court should decide what date should the polling take place as both the parties involved in the case could not reach a consensus.
Responding to the judge, Hamza said that the election can also take place on July 17 — the day when by-polls take place. To this, Justice Ahsan asked Hamza whether he was ready to remain out of the CM’s Office till July 17.
The PML-N leader responded by saying that the court should decide what date should the polling take place as both the parties involved in the case could not reach a consensus.
The justices then asked Elahi what was his opinion on the matter. He told the bench that he would accept any decision that the court announces, but also sought assurances that if the polling date exceeds, then no Opposition member would be arrested.
Justice Ahsan said that if Elahi accepts Hamza as the chief minister till July 17, then all other matters could be resolved amicably.
He added that Elahi had two options, either accept Hamza as the CM or give a date for the elections. The justice assured that no arrests would be made.
At this, Elahi agreed that Hamza would retain the chief ministership until July 17.
However, PTI lawyer Babar Awan protested against it and said that the party will not accept Hamza as the chief minister — bringing allies PML-Q and PTI to a crossroads over the matter.
The court then asked Elahi to consult with PTI Chairman Imran Khan and come to a consensus as it adjourned the hearing for the third time and went on a break for half an hour.
The plea of PTI sought an immediate hearing on the plea, requesting to remove Hamza Shahbaz from Punjab CM’s post and suspend the process of recounting till a decision on this plea.
PTI maintained in its plea that LHC’s order should be amended and sufficient time be granted to notify all the lawmakers to ensure their presence in the Punjab Assembly session, so that a free and fair election of the Punjab CM can be held.
Referring to the objection raised by LHC’s Justice Sajid Mehmood Sethi, PTI sought to quash the notification issued for appointment of Hamza Shahbaz as the CM as he’ll no longer have the majority of votes within the contemplation of Article 130(4) of the Constitution when the PTI dissidents’ votes are excluded.
In his dissenting note in the verdict, Justice Sethi had said that the votes of the 25 PTI dissidents cast in favour of Hamza were “admitted”, therefore, there was no need to repeat the exercise of counting/recounting.
The judge noted that in the 371-strong Punjab Assembly, the requisite number needed to become chief minister was 186 votes. He went on to say that from the record, Hamza obtained 197 votes. Justice Sethi also said that after excluding the 25 votes, Hamza had 172 votes. “Therefore, he is not member elected within the contemplation of Article 130(4) of the Constitution and being a stranger to the office of chief minister, cannot be allowed to hold the office,” he said.
“[…] the Chief Minister Punjab may kindly be removed pending this election process due to absence of a valid notification of his appointment and that the Court may graciously grant such time and issue such direction where free and fair election to the post of Chief Minister Punjab takes place with the participation of duly constituted Assembly in accordance with the norms of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973,” the plea stated.
Punjab government and opposition parties on Friday have reached consensus to hold election for the province s chief executive after by-elections in 20 constituencies, on 22 July 2022 Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Umar Ata Bandial said.
Earlier, Supreme Court while giving two option to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) told to either hold the elections for Punjab chief minister in two days or on July 17.
Three member bench headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial conducted hearing of PTI plea requesting SC to set aside LHC verdict by declaring it illegal and unconstitutional. PTI has also prayed that court suspend the process of recounting till a decision on this plea.
During the hearing, Justice Ijazul Ahsan remarked that voting cannot be held today at 4pm as appropriate time is required to hold the polling.
Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial said that there is consensus that election for Chief Minister of Punjab cannot be held today (Friday).
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has moved Supreme Court of Pakistan against verdict of Lahore High Court ordering recount of Chief Minister Punjab election held on April 16 after excluding votes of 25 de-seated lawmakers of PTI.
At the outset of the hearing, PTI leader Babar Awan requested the court to grant a seven-day extension before the next Punjab Assembly session for Punjab CM’s election.
He informed the court that all of the PTI lawmakers are not present in Lahore as some have gone to perform Hajj while some are attending family events.
The CJP responded to the request by saying that the lawmakers present in the country should have been able to reach the capital within a day.
It merits mention that LHC, in its verdict stated that the decision by Supreme Court of not counting votes of defecting members of a political party is squarely applicable to the election of Chief Minister held on 14th April 2022.
“It is an undeniable fact that 25 members of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf had voted for Mr. Muhammad Hamza Shahbaz, whereas the party had nominated Mr. Pervaiz Elahi as its candidate.”
The court also directed the Presiding Officer (Deputy Speaker) of the election held on 16th April 2022 to recount votes after excluding 25 votes of the defecting members. As a consequence, if required majority, under Article 130(4), is not secured by any candidate, he shall proceed for second and further polls under its provisos for completing the process of election as required under Article 130(4), unless a candidate is elected by majority votes. Though on recounting as directed, the consequential procedure and effect shall be in accordance with the Constitution.
The court further directed that the session, for this purpose, as originally called by the then Governor shall be resumed on 1st July 2022 (Friday) at 4:00 pm without fail and the session so resumed shall not be prorogued till the election process is completed and Presiding officer intimates the result of elected Chief Minister to the Governor under the Rule 21 and the Governor shall preform his duty, under Article 130(5), of administering oath without any hesitation and by ignoring any apprehension regarding conduct election, at any time before 11:00 am very next day.
The court further said that it cannot ignore the disorder in various sessions of the Provincial Assembly and warned that any attempt of disorder from any quarter shall be taken as contempt of court and shall be proceeded accordingly by this Larger Bench on formal information by any person.