In response to a court ruling, the LHC fined CM Hamza and others.

It was previously requested that the above-mentioned respond by May 25 to various petitions filed for the declaration of the April 16 contest as null and invalid by LHC Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti.

The CJ had also asked the respondent’s counsel for their thoughts on “whether the Supreme Court’s ruling on defecting MPs would have the retroactive impact”.

Lawmakers from the PTI, including Punjab Assembly Speaker Pervez Elahi, had petitioned the court.

As the hearing got underway, Further Advocate General Jawad Yaqoob, who was unable to file a response due to sickness, requested additional time to do so. Furthermore, Hamza’s counsel requested further time to file the response.

According to Elahi’s lawyer Barrister Ali Zafar, Hamza had lost the bulk of support when the Supreme Court voted to remove 25 PTI MPAs from office for defection.

CJ Bhatti commented that the point was not whether Hamza had lost the majority, but whether the Supreme Court’s ruling had a retroactive impact. ‘ Everything would be very evident if the SC’s judgment was retroactive.

Respondents were told by the Supreme Court to submit their responses by May 30.

In his petition, Elahi demanded that the court investigate the individual who claimed to be the chief minister and if he earned the requisite number of votes in the race. Hamza would not have been able to serve as CM if he hadn’t obtained the requisite number of votes. He wanted a new election for the position of chief minister.

Notably, the CJ’s court received not one but two more petitions, one requesting removal of Hamza as chief minister and the other seeking to declare null and illegal the April 16th election for CM in the Punjab Assembly.

The petition of Pervez Elahi

PTI members accounted for 25 of the 197 votes Hamza received. The PTI members who voted for Hamza instead of Ellahi did so against the wishes of the parliamentary party.

Elsewhere in his petition, Ellahi asked the court to declare that Hamza was not Punjab’s chief minister since he had not received the appropriate number of votes. The April 16 election, as well as the certificate issued by the respondent Deputy Speaker Sardar Dost Muhammad Mazari, should be ruled invalid.

As part of the petition, it was requested that the province deem any further acts performed by Hamza in his alleged role as provincial chief executive and all additional communications made, orders passed or notices given invalid.

Petitioners also asked that instructions be given for new elections for the position of Punjab chief minister, in accordance with the country’s constitution and legal framework. It said that Hamza’s oath of allegiance should be annulled.

A petition demanding the removal of Hamza

After the Supreme Court’s interpretation of Article 63-A of the Constitution, prominent attorney Mushtaq Ahmed Mohal filed the case.

Hamza Shehbaz Sharif had lost his constitutional right to continue in power following the Supreme Court’s interpretation, and he sought that the court stop him from keeping office since he had lost the majority in the provincial legislature.

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He requested the court to declare all measures and actions adopted by the incumbent chief minister as “illegal and unconstitutional”.

The petitioner also asked the court to restrain Hamza from performing his duties as the chief minister of Punjab and that the bureaucracy – including the chief secretary – be stopped from obeying Hamza’s orders.

Contest be declared null and void

PTI lawmaker Sibtain Khan and others had also requested the LHC to declare null and void the election held for the chief minister in the Punjab Assembly on April 16.

The party implored in their petition that PTI lawmakers were thrown out of the PA under the direction of Hamza and claimed that they had been deprived of their right to vote on April 16.

The lawmakers questioned how the police could enter the assembly chambers and stated that despite the provincial assembly’s ban on private members in the assembly chambers, Deputy Speaker Sardar Dost Muhammad Mazari had invited over 300 private members that day.

They contended that PTI lawmaker Ahmad Saleem had not voted for PML-N but he was listed among those who had exercised their right of vote.