On Friday, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf decided to go to the Supreme Court to appeal against the verdict of recounting votes for chief minister Punjab by the Lahore High Court (LHC). LHC had ordered to recount the votes, excluding 25 dissident members of PTI.
The decision was made over the plea submitted by PTI and PML-Q against the appointment of Hamza Shehbaz.
The decision by LHC stated that if Hamza had lost the simple majority of 186, required to stay CM, then under Article 103 (4) a fresh election would be organised. But, in the new round of voting, Hamza only needed to have more votes than the opponent.
The simple majority of 186 would not be required. PTI has filed a petition in SC seeking the removal of Hamza from the chief minister’s post and to issue directives for a fair and free election.
The party said that since 25 votes had been excluded, then it would be unnecessary to repeat the voting process. They also added that some of their MPAs were in Saudi Arabia for Hajj pilgrimage, and many had left for hometowns to spend Eid-ul-Azha.
PTI also made the case that five dissident members on reserved seats had not been notified yet.
In the light of the Constitution, Hamza has lost the majority and holds no ground to be the CM Punjab. But, LHC has refrained from acting as the presiding officer and instead decided to hold re-voting.
