Lahore High Court rules elections for new Punjab chief minister be held April 16

ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani court on Wednesday declined a petition to hold early election for the position of Punjab chief minister while ruling that the process would take place on April 16 as originally planned.
The Punjab chief minister’s post fell vacant after Sardar Usman Buzdar stepped down while the country’s former prime minister Imran Khan was still facing a no-confidence resolution against him.
Subsequently, Khan nominated Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, his coalition partner from the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), as his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party’s candidate.
The other contender for the CM’s post is Hamza Shehbaz Sharif who was “elected” by 199 provincial legislators at a symbolic session of the Punjab Assembly at a private hotel in Lahore last week.
Sharif had also filed a petition in the Lahore High Court for early election for the chief minister’s position since his party believed the process was being deliberately delayed.
“The prayer of the petitioner ... to shorten the date of Session, which is already fixed by the Deputy Speaker for 16.04.2022 to elect the Chief Minister is hereby declined,” said the court in its ruling.
The IHC verdict noted that the respondents’ counsels, including the advocate general of the province, did not display any reservation toward the idea of holding the chief minister’s election.
It ordered the deputy speaker of the Punjab assembly and other relevant authorities, including the provincial administration, to “act impartially, justly and fairly to ensure the supremacy of the Constitution.”
The court also instructed that no one must “hinder, obstruct or interfere” with any provincial assembly member who desired to participate in the session.
“The Secretary, Provincial Assembly is further directed to ensure the completion of renovation work of the Provincial Assembly before 11:00 p.m. of 15.04.2022 and should be made available for its use for the honorable members of the Provincial Assembly on 16.04.2022 in respectable manner,” the high court added.
The Punjab Assembly has 371 members. Any candidate wishing to be the next chief minister will have to secure at least 186 votes in the election.
While Hamza Shehbaz’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party has 165 seats in the provincial assembly, he claims to have the support of requisite number of lawmakers belonging to other political factions.
The PTI and PML-Q have 183 and 10 seats in the provincial legislature, respectively, though their dissident lawmakers may decide to favor Sharif during the electoral contest.