ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party challenged in the Supreme Court on Saturday a key vote in Punjab province, which it lost a day earlier due to a controversial ruling by the local assembly's deputy speaker.

The vote was held to determine whether the province’s sitting chief minister Hamza Shehbaz — the son of the country’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif — had the backing of the majority of lawmakers in the country’s most populous province.

He retained the post in a blow to Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party and its allies who won last week 15 out of 20 seats that were up for grabs in the byelection to the 371-member provincial assembly.

Khan’s candidate for chief minister, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, won 186 votes, but the assembly’s deputy speaker Dost Mohammad Mazari invalidated 10 of them citing voting rules violations.

Elahi challenged Mazari’s ruling in the Supreme Court on Saturday, but after an hours-long hearing the apex court decided Shehbaz would remain in office as the trustee chief minister until Monday to prevent a vacuum of power.

“Hamza Shehbaz will work in accordance with the law and the constitution until then,” the court said, as it summoned the deputy speaker to explain his position on the ruling during the next hearing.

 

Khan has called on supporters to rally against the Punjab assembly deputy speaker and since Friday night protesters have started taking to the streets in major cities across Pakistan. The demonstrations remained peaceful.

After the court hearing, PTI leader Farrukh Habib told reporters the government side had failed to satisfy the court on the deputy speaker’s ruling.

“It is simple and clear after the today’s hearing that Pervaiz Elahi will be the legal and constitutional chief minister after the court’s verdict in the case,” he said.

But Punjab Home Minister Attaullah Tarar, a politician of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, said during a press conference that Shehbaz’s election victory was “in line with the law and the constitution.”

“Justice should not have double standards,” he added. “It was a constitutional matter and its interpretation was necessary.”

Khan was removed from office in a vote of no-confidence on April 10, after he lost majority in parliament.

He has since held several anti-government demonstrations across the country, saying his ouster was part of a Washington-backed “foreign conspiracy.” The US has repeatedly denied the allegations.

The ex-premier has refused to recognize the new government of Sharif and has repeatedly called for early parliamentary elections.

Sharif’s administration has rejected the challenge, saying the next polls would be held on time, in 2023.