Dawood Ahmed :
ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday termed the ruling of the deputy speaker Punjab Assembly Dost Muhammad Mazari as null and void. The apex court declared Chaudhary Pervez Elahi as the Chief Minister of Punjab.
The three SC bench also declared all orders of former chief minister Hamza Shehbaz as null and void.
The verdict saw Hamza Shehbaz lose his status as the “trustee” chief minister and his rival from PML-Q, Parvez Elahi, who had PTI’s backing and will now take over the position as per the top court’s order.
A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial and Justices Ijazul Ahsan and Munib Akhtar announced the decision.
During the election, Mazari, the deputy speaker, had decided against counting the votes of 10 PML-Q lawmakers, which were cast in Elahi’s favor, citing a letter written by party President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain in which he had instructed them to vote for Hamza instead. That decision had tipped the balance in Hamza’s favor — an advantage the SC reversed in its verdict.
