Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain will appear before the Supreme Court (SC) on Monday (tomorrow) over the matter of his letter to Punjab Assembly (PA) Deputy Speaker Dost Mohammad Mazari on the day of the Punjab Chief Minister (CM) election (July 22), sources have revealed according to Geo News.

According to media reports, he has left for the capital.

It is pertinent to mention that after reading Shujaat’s letter to the House, Mazari dismissed the 10 votes of PML-Q cast in favour of Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, which led to his [Elahi] defeat in the CM election against Hamza Shehbaz.

Following the election, a plea was filed by Elahi challenging Mazari’s ruling. On Saturday, the apex court heard it and said that incumbent CM Hamza Shehbaz will work as a trustee CM till Monday and adjourned the hearing.

‘Hamza Shehbaz will work as trustee CM till Monday’: Supreme Court

In a plea filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi challenging Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Dost Mohammad Mazari’s ruling, the Supreme Court (SC) has said that incumbent Chief Minister (CM) Hamza Shehbaz will work as a trustee CM till Monday and adjourned the hearing.

The judges also remarked that the deputy speaker’s ruling appeared to be illegal. Earlier today, a three-bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial heard Elahi’s plea after last night’s Punjab CM election.

The court has also made it clear that Hamza will work in accordance with the law and the Constitution until then. According to the top court, Hamza is not allowed to use his power as CM in any way that would benefit him personally.

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Outside the court, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PT) leader Farrukh Habib told reporters that the government’s side had no responses or credible arguments to present.

He said the case has become very “simple and clear” and after today’s hearing, Elahi would be the “legal and constitutional” chief minister once the court verdict comes. He said Hamza is restored only as a “trustee” chief minister so that the province’s governance is not impacted and his oath today has been withheld.

Earlier today, CJP directed Dost Mazari to appear before the court so that he could explain his position. However, he did not show up. Irfan Qadir, Mazari’s lawyer, asked the court for more time and said he wanted to submit a written response. The court granted him time till Monday.

It is pertinent to mention that Elahi had the support of 10 PML-Q MPAs apart from PTI. However, a day before the CM Punjab election, a meeting took place between Shujaat and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, which turned the tables in Hamza’s favour. On the day of the election, Shujaat directed his MPAs to vote in favour of Hamza.

However, the lawmakers cast votes in favour of Elahi but Mazari dismissed their votes. Later both PTI and PML-Q challenged Mazari’s ruling as they were of the view that it is unconstitutional.

SC summons Punjab Deputy Speaker Mazari at 2pm on Elahi’s petition

The Supreme Court (SC) on Saturday summoned Punjab Assembly (PA) Deputy Speaker Dost Mohammad Mazari at 2pm in connection with a petition filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi challenging his ruling during the chief minister’s run-off election held on July 22.

A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justices Ijazul Ahsan and Munib Akhtar, directed Mazari to submit the complete record of yesterday’s election to the court.

Elahi’s counsel Barrister Ali Zafar informed the court that in the run-off election yesterday, Hamza secured 179 votes against his client’s 186.

The SC’s opinion in the May order, Zafar said, states that the parliamentary party can give directions to lawmakers on whom to vote for, and the PML-Q’s parliamentary party decided to back Elahi, but despite that, Mazari dismissed 10 PML-Q votes.

“They ignored the parliamentary party’s decision,” Zafar said.

At this, the chief justice said that all the relevant parties — deputy speaker, chief minister, and Punjab attorney-general — should be issued notices so they can provide their version.

“We wish to hear from the deputy speaker personally. Only the deputy speaker can tell us which paragraph he was referring to,” Justice Bandial said.

Elahi files a petition against the deputy speaker’s ruling

In his petition, Elahi requested the court to hold the deputy speaker’s ruling leading to Hamza’s re-election as “bogus and false”.

“Hamza Shehbaz may kindly be declared disqualified as the Punjab chief minister/ member of the provincial assembly,” the petition read.

It requested the court to declare the deputy speaker’s decision to discard the votes of 10 PML-Q lawmakers on grounds of Article 63-A of the Constitution as “unconstitutional”.

What happened in Punjab on July 22?

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) candidate Hamza Shehbaz on July 22 retained the post of the Punjab chief minister after a three-vote victory against the PTI’s candidate, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi.

Dost Mazari, citing the Supreme Court’s opinion on Article 63-A of the Constitution, rejected 10 votes cast by PML-Q members in favour of Elahi “against the party line”.

As a result, Hamza received 179 votes, while Elahi, who was backed by the PTI, managed to bag 176 votes.