LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: The Lahore High Court (LHC) today ordered fresh counting of votes in the Punjab Assembly after excluding votes of 25 PTI MPAs denotified by the ECP for violating party’s discipline.
The bench of the LHC announced this decision with 4-1 majority on Thursday. The court directed Governor Punjab to summon session of Punjab Assembly on Friday afternoon for fresh counting of votes for the Chief Minister of Punjab.
In its petitions, PTI has challenged election of Hamza Shehbaz as Chief Minister and asked the court to declare his election illegal. PTI also demanded fresh election for the post of Chief Minister Punjab after 25 MPAs of the PTI were denotified who voted for Hamza Shahbaz, violating the party discipline.
After the decision of the LHC, PML(N) and PTI leaders are claiming majority in the Punjab Assembly. However, Friday’s fresh election or counting will make clear which party gets majority in the assembly.
At the time of the election of Hamza Shahbaz as Chief Minister, PTI and PML-Q announced the boycott of the elections and Hamza obtained 197 votes, including 25 votes of PTI dissident MPAs.
