• A five-member bench gave the decision 4-1 in the favour of pleas submitted by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf lawmakers.
• The PTI approached the Lahore High Court against the election of Hamza Shehbaz as chief minister of Punjab in light of the opinion given by the Supreme Court that the defectors vote would not be counted.

LAHORE: A full bench of the Lahore High Court on Thursday set aside election of Hamza Shehbaz as chief minister of Punjab and ordered to hold fresh election.

The five-judge bench was hearing appeals of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) and Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Parvez Elahi against different single-bench decisions regarding the election and oath-taking of CM Shehbaz.

Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan heads the bench with Justice Shehram Sarwar Chaudhry, Justice Sajid Mahmood Sethi and Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh as its members.

The courtroom was packed to its capacity with lawyers and leaders of the opposition parties including former law minister Raja Basharat and former provincial minister Sibtain Khan, also a petitioner in the case.

Advocate General of Punjab Shahzad Shaukat also appeared before the bench.

Justice Shahid Jamil observed that the presidential reference about the interpretation of article 63-A of the Constitution was still pending when the election of the chief minister was held.
The judge also asked the counsel of Hamza to seek a review of the Supreme Court’s opinion if had an objection.

Barrister Syed Ali Zafar, on behalf of the appellants, argued that the opinion of the Supreme Court would apply retrospectively to the election of the chief minister held on April 16.

Justice Khan observed that now whole country knew the bench’s view on the implementation of the SC opinion on Article 63-A.
Mr Zafar said the chief minister lost the majority as the apex court ruled that the votes of the defectors were not to be counted. He pointed out that 25 MPAs had defected in the election of the chief minister.

Advocate Ahmad Awais, on behalf of President Dr Arif Alvi, argued that the order issued to the national assembly speaker for oath taking of the chief minister was illegal.

He requested the bench to set aside adverse remarks in the order of the single bench against the president and then governor of Punjab. He said the president and the governor were condemned unheard.
Justice Sethi also expressed his concern over the remarks against the president and the governor without hearing their view.

After hearing the arguments from all sides, the bench announced its short order and annulled the election of Hamza Shehbaz as chief minister.