Pervez Elahi is now CM Punjab, rules Supreme Court, removes Hamza Shahbaz

The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Tuesday declared Deputy Speaker Dost Muhammad Mazari’s ruling in the Punjab Chief Minister’s election “illegal” and ruled that PTI’s candidate Pervez Elahi will be the new CM of the province.

“The deputy speaker’s ruling is illegal. There is no legal justification for his ruling,” said the Supreme Court in an 11-page short order.

The three-member bench — comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, and Justice Muneeb Akhtar — also ordered Punjab Governor Baligh ur Rehman to administer the oath to Elahi at 11:30pm, adding that if he refuses to perform his duties, President Arif Alvi will administer the oath.

Read more: SC rejects govt’s request for full court bench

The top court also declared appointments made by Hamza Shahbaz and the oath administered to the Punjab cabinet “null and void”.

“Hamza Shahbaz and his cabinet members should leave their posts immediately,” ruled the apex court.

The court further said that its order should be implemented at once, and directed authorities concerned that copies of the verdict should be sent to the Punjab governor, the chief secretary, and the deputy speaker.

Earlier, CJP Bandial had said that the judgment would be issued at 5:45pm and later it was scheduled to be announced at 7:30pm. However, the verdict was announced after a three-hour delay via short order.

The proceedings went on for three days — Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday — as lawyers from all the parties presented their arguments.

Elahi — who had been defeated by Hamza Shahbaz on July 22 during the Punjab CM’s election after 10 PML-Q votes were rejected by Deputy Speaker Mazari — had challenged the ruling in the SC.

Supreme Court rejects plea seeking formation of full court for hearing Punjab CM’s election case

The SC formed a three-member bench — headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and including Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Ijazul Ahsan — to hear the case, but the coalition government objected to it and demanded a full court take up the matter as they did not want “bench-fixing”.

However, after hearing arguments from all sides for nearly eight hours on Monday, the SC decided not to form a full court bench, saying that the same bench would hear the case.

As the SC decided not to form a full bench, the ruling coalition and the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) decided to boycott the apex court’s hearing.