The SC adjourns the hearing and orders Hamza Shahbaz to serve as the CM "trustee" till Monday.


 Hamza Shahbaz, the chief minister of Punjab, would serve as a trustee through Monday, according to a statement from the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Saturday (July 25).

The decisions were made at a hearing on a petition filed by PML-Q leader Pervez Elahi challenging Dost Mazari's decision in the province chief ministerial election that took place on Friday.

Following the resumption of the hearing on Elahi's suit challenging the decision of Deputy Speaker Dost Mazari of the Punjab Assembly, the Supreme Court gave the instructions.

The chief minister's authority would be restricted, the court declared in its verbal order.

It was further stated that "all appointments shall be made on the basis of merit, and any made without merit will be void."

According to the Supreme Court, the chief minister will not engage in any political


Arguments made by Mazari's attorney

The court questioned Advocate General Punjab Shahzad Shaukat during the hearing via video link as to what grounds he was defending the deputy speaker's decision to deny 10 votes from the PML-Q by citing Article 63. (A). According to the advocate general of Punjab, the matter is being defended in light of the Pakistani Election Commission's ruling, which was made public.

The Supreme Court said that the votes of dissident members would not be counted in its ruling on PTI's case over the vote of recalcitrant members, according to attorney Irfan Qadir, who is representing the deputy speaker.

The verdict announced on May 17 would not be reconsidered, Chief Justice Bandial stated, because it has not yet been appealed.

He asserted that

In view of the Supreme Court's ruling, Advocate Qadir stated that the deputy speaker thought it was appropriate to not count PML-Q votes. He believed that the party leader should be regarded as the party's legislative head.

Justice Ahsan questioned the attorney on what would happen, for example, if the deputy speaker misinterpreted the SC's prior decision. There is no disputing the facts, according to attorney Qadir, but he is unable to confess because he is afraid of the judge.

According to CJP Bandial, it appears that the deputy speaker made a choice that was contrary to the court's verdict.

The deputy speaker must explain why he made the decision, he continued.

The court mandated Mazari and the

Insights into the hearing

The courtroom door was damaged due to a rush of people trying to enter, thus it was decided to conduct the hearing by video link instead.

Only the attorneys for the respondents were permitted to enter the video link room.

The courtroom was closed off to the press.

The hearing was taking place in the Supreme Court's Lahore registry under the direction of a three-judge panel that included Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan, and Justice Munib Akhtar.

The court had summoned Mazari and issued summons to the chief secretary of Punjab, Hamza Shahbaz, and the Punjab advocate general.

Elahi was represented by attorneys Ali Zafar, Imtiaz Siddiqui, and Safdar Shaheen Advocate, while Mansoor Usman was an attorney.


Beginning of the hearing

Prior to the election on Friday, Ali Zafar told the court about the assembly processes that took place. The top court ordered the re-election on July 1.

When questioned by Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan how many members were in the house at the time of the election, Barrister Zafar said that there were 370 members of the provincial legislature. He asserted, "186 votes for Pervez Elahi while Hamza Shahbaz received 179 votes," and added that Elahi won the CM election legally.

He claimed that the deputy speaker disregarded the parliamentary party's duty and disregarded the Supreme Court's judgement in the Article 63A interpretation case when he disregarded 10 votes in his decision.

CJP Bandial then said that Dupty Speaker would be called before the court.

"The entire nation condemns the deputy speaker's decision."

Following the conclusion of the day's proceedings, former information minister and top PTI official Fawad Chaudhry informed the media that the deputy speaker's decision was "illegal" and that the entire nation disagreed.

He emphasised the numbers, stating that Hamza, who received 179 votes, was awarded the job of chief minister for the province while the candidate who received 186 votes was placed into opposition.

Fawad stated that the letter that served as the foundation for Mazari's decision was a "secret" letter, the contents of which were only known to the deputy speaker because it is unknown whether Shujaat is also aware of it or not.

He added that Hamza's oath from today was invalidated by the SC's verbal ruling.

"Person who lost elections will act as interim chief minister"

Asad Umar, a former planning minister and current leader of the PTI, declared on Twitter that the chief minister who, in accordance with the SC's ruling today, was "never elected" and who lost the election in front of the entire country will act as the interim CM for two days.

The deputy speaker acted as a toy.

PTI leader Farrukh Habib told reporters outside the courthouse that Hamza will serve as a "trustee" CM up till the Supreme Court issues its final ruling.

He continued by saying that the deputy speaker was merely a "thing that gets played with a key."

Pakistan is currently quite close to Sri Lanka.

Imran Khan, the leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, criticised the coalition government for bringing the nation to its knees on the political and economic fronts.

The PTI chairman declared in a string of tweets that Pakistan's populace had had enough and would not put up with the mafias' theft and pillage any longer.

"The time when our people take to the streets like in Sri Lanka is not far away."

PML-Q petition

Following an unexpected move by PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, PTI and PML-Q filed a petition in the Supreme Court (SC) Lahore Registry challenging Dost Mazari's decision to reject 10 votes cast for Pervez Elahi "against the party line" and citing the Supreme Court's opinion on Article 63(A).

Prior to this, PML-N candidate Hamza Shahbaz defeated Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervez Elahi by a margin of three votes to keep his position as the province's chief minister.

Following the vote-counting, the deputy speaker invalidated 10 votes cast by PML-Q members by citing Article 63A of the Constitution. As a result, Elahi garnered 176 votes, while Hamza received 179.

A combined parliamentary party meeting took place after the election.