ISLAMABAD: Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the decision of Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Dost Mohammed Mazari, PTI-backed nominee Pervez Elahi took oath as the province’s new chief minister early on Wednesday at the Aiwan-e-Sadar.
Elahi, a candidate for the PTI, will take over as the new chief minister of the province after the top court pronounced Mazari’s decision in the Punjab chief minister election to be “illegal.”
The Punjab Governor Baligh ur Rehman was initially instructed by the three-member SC bench, which included Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, and Justice Muneeb Akhtar, to swear Elahi in, but he refused to comply. As a result, President Arif Alvi gave the oath.
Elahi travelled for Islamabad late Tuesday night to take an oath from Alvi in accordance with the Supreme Court’s directive after Governor Punjab refused.
President Alvi, sent a special plane to transport Elahi to Islamabad for the oath-taking ceremony. In an 11-page short order, the Supreme Court stated:
“We find that the Deputy Speaker, Provincial Assembly of Punjab, Lahore (Respondent No. 1)’s understanding and application of the said short judgement as well as the provisions of Article 63A(1)(b) of the Constitution were patently incorrect and erroneous and cannot be sustained.”
Elahi was thus pronounced to be the legitimately elected chief minister of Punjab by the order, which determined that he had received 186 votes to Hamza’s 179.
