Hamza ‘elected’ Punjab CM

PML-N’s Hamza Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday was “elected” as the new chief minister of Punjab securing 197 votes amid the chaos that erupted in the provincial assembly, but his rival candidate has declared the polls as “illegal”.

Acting Speaker Sardar Dost Muhammad Mazari announced the victory of Hamza, the son of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, from the official gallery as the seat usually used by the speaker to preside over the House was cordoned off by police over the chaos created by the treasury lawmakers.

Acting speaker Mazari also announced that Hamza’s rival, Pervaiz Elahi, a PML-Q leader and Punjab Assembly speaker, had not received a single vote.

After security clearance, Mazari then conducted the rest of the proceedings from his actual chair.  He then invited Hamza to the CM’s seat on the treasury benches. The House reverberated with slogans, “Sher Aya Sher Aya” and “Sher Aik Wari Fer”.

Hamza in his speech admired the bravery of Mazari and for standing by the rule of law. Mazari, at that time, termed the completion of the contest as the victory of democracy and the Punjab Assembly. Hamza regretted the situation that occurred in the assembly.

“This is what former premier Imran Khan has been promoting among his PTI. The attack on Mazari is actually an attack on this House,” he added.

However, he claimed that the PML-N would work to put the country on the right track and serve to ameliorate the fate of the poor masses.

After Hamza became the Punjab CM, PML-N women MPAs chanted slogans in his favour as well as those supporting his uncle, former premier Nawaz Sharif.

Elahi, who was the PTI’s candidate for the chief minister’s position but later boycotted the polls after being physically assaulted allegedly by PML-N MPAs, declared the election as “illegal”, casting a shadow of doubt over the legitimacy of the electoral process.

The advocate general Punjab also reportedly declared the election as illegal. He added that the deputy speaker had not conducted the polls according to the rules.

Elahi, who with the election for the Punjab CM conducted, would resume his position as the provincial assembly speaker. He claimed that the election process was a sham and that Hamza was not the leader of the House.

He further announced that the House would not issue any notification. “The House can only issue a notification when elections have taken place, but this was a mock activity,” he added.

The PM-Q leader said as he was not the speaker on Saturday, the deputy did whatever he wished to do.

“But with these elections done, I am the speaker, and I will decide how to run this house.”

To a question if Hamza could take oath, he claimed that he was a sham CM. He was referring to the judgments, wherein the court had apparently stepped in the assembly’s domain. He maintained that Article 69 barred courts from interfering in the affairs of assemblies.

“They [judiciary] have opened this Pandora’s box.”

Elahi also met with local and international media outlets and claimed that the PTI and PML-Q had not attacked first, referring to the pandemonium witnessed in the provincial assembly.

“The police officials attacked our women MPAs first and that’s when the scuffle erupted.”

To a query, Elahi was unable to name any woman MPA who was thrashed by the cops. However, he also lashed out at the court’s decision saying his powers were usurped by the judiciary.

When pointed out that he had no powers this time being a contestant for the CM slot, he corrected himself saying by saying he meant acting speaker Mazari had usurped his powers.

Former law minister Raja Basharat said even the provincial law officer had declared the process illegal. It was also reported that a meeting was held at the Governor’s House to seek a legal opinion on the issue. Advocate General Punjab Ahmad Awais was also present there.

Late in the day it was reported that the advocate general Punjab had raised question on the legality of the process and reportedly declared it illegal. He claimed Hamza was not a constitutional CM.

He added that the acting speaker had not conducted the election according to the procedure given in the law. He said the Punjab governor should not administer oath to Hamza.

Senior lawyer Azhar Saddique, talking to The Express Tribune, also declared these elections as illegal and termed the entire process as a sham. Azhar said the process was in violation of the Lahore High Court’s order. He said that these elections were not held through a democratic process.

The lawyer raised the question when the party head had in writing requested the speaker to disqualify the defecting members, how could their votes be entertained.

He added that if their votes were subtracted from the equation, Hamza did not have a simple majority.