ISLAMABAD: Following the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) decision to recount votes in the Punjab Chief Minister’s election, PML-N leader Ataullah Tarar on Thursday claimed that his party has a majority of 9 votes in the Punjab Assembly.
Talking to reporters, Tarar said that the party respects all the decisions passed by the courts.
Speaking about the LHC’s decision, he said: “The court neither annulled the previous elections nor ordered fresh elections.”
Tarar said the court has directed that the previous voting process be carried out after the boycott of 25 votes.
The court ordered that Hamza Shahbaz would continue in office until the elections were over.
Giving details of the numbers held by each party, he said the PML-N has the support of 177 MPs while the PML-Q and PTI’s alliance has got 168 votes.
He said he was confident that the PML-N would win tomorrow.
LHC Verdict
The LHC accepted the appeal of PTI filed against the election of Hamza Shahbaz as chief minister, and ordered a recount of votes except for the 25 defected party members who had voted for him.
A larger bench of the LHC headed by Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan and Justice Shahid Jameel, Justice Shehram Sarwar, Justice Sajid Mahmood Sethi and Justice Tariq Salim Shaikh delivered the verdict 4-1 today.
Justice Sajid Mahmood Sethi disagreed with his fellow judges.
Commenting on the decision, geo news Anchor and legal analyst Muneeb Farooq said that under Article 130(4) of the Constitution, a second round of voting takes place if the candidate fails to obtain a majority in the provincial assembly.
The LHC has directed that the session of the Punjab Legislative Assembly be convened on July 1 at 4 pm for the second round of voting.
Farooq said that whoever wins the majority on July 1 will be the chief minister. However, the court has protected the decisions taken by Hamza Shahbaz as chief minister, he said.
He said the deputy speaker of the Punjab Legislative Assembly would preside over the session on July 1 as Chaudhary Pervez Elahi is a contender for the post.
Elaborating on the verdict, Farooq said that there is no condition of securing 186 votes in the second round of vote, whoever gets the majority will be the chief minister.
‘Hamza is not the CM of Punjab’
In the meantime, talking to geo newsPTI leader Mahmood-ur-Rashid said the LHC has approved all three petitions filed by his party.
“Hamza is no longer the chief minister,” he said, adding that a fresh election would be held for the slot of CM Punjab.
He congratulated the people of Punjab on their success in court. Criticizing the PML-N, he said that Hamza Shahbaz was enjoying the powers of CM for more than two months despite not having majority in the house.
He promised that the upcoming election for the post of CM of Punjab would be won by PTI.
Responding to a question, the PTI leader said that the decision coming in this matter will definitely have an impact on the by-elections.