The Supreme Court has summoned Punjab Assembly Deputy Speak Dost Muhammad Mazari today to personally hear from him on his controversial ruling during the Punjab Chief Minister election where he rejected 10 votes of PML-Q.
According to the details, a three-member bench — headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, and comprising Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar — is holding the hearing at the Supreme Court’s Lahore registry.
During the hearing, the chief justice remarked that there is nothing in their decision that the deputy speaker mentioned during the assembly proceedings.
“We are here to learn and will summon the deputy speaker so that he could identify the paragraph from the apex court’s decision which he used to decide on the matter,” he said.
Read more: Hamza Shehbaz re-elected as the Chief Minister of Punjab
On the occasion, Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan said that the party head could only report on the violation of the orders by the parliamentary party.
“It is a democratic tradition that the parliamentary party decides on the matters within the assemblies,” he added. Therefore, the SC directed the deputy speaker to provide a full record of the CM Punjab election. The SC also summoned Hamza Shahbaz, attorney general and advocate general Punjab.
سپریم کورٹ نے بات بہت سادہ کر دی. د پٹی سپیکر کو 2 بجے بلایا ہے کہ ہمیں بھی بتا دیں کہ سپریم کورٹ نے اپنے فیصلے میں کہاں لکھا ہے کہ ووٹ کی ہدایات کا اختیار پارٹی لیڈر کو ہے؟ آئن تو بلکل واضح ہے کے یہ اختیار پارلیمانی پارٹی کا ہے
— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) July 23, 2022
ہم ہمیشہ سیکھتے ہیں، ڈپٹی اسپیکر آکر بتادیں کہ کس پیرا گراف میں وہ لکھا جس کا انہوں نے حوالہ دیا ہے، چیف جسٹس پاکستان جسٹس عمر عطا بندیال
— Farrukh Habib (@FarrukhHabibISF) July 23, 2022
Dost Mazari’s ruling sparks controversy
In a major upset, Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Dost Mazari rejected 10 votes of PML-Q after PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat sent a letter directing party lawmakers to vote for PML-N candidate Hamza Shehbaz, effectively going against his brother Parvez Elahi who is a PTI candidate and had more votes than Hamza.
Pertinent to mention that Dost Mazari rejected the votes cats by PML-Q members while citing Article 63A of the Constitution. Most importantly, the Supreme Court of Pakistan, back in May, had ruled the votes of dissident MPs, cast against their parliamentary party’s directives, cannot be counted.
Read more: Nationwide protests erupt after Dost Mazari’s ruling
The apex court, issuing its verdict on the presidential reference seeking the interpretation of Article 63(A) of the Constitution related to defecting lawmakers of the PTI, said that the law cannot be interpreted in isolation.
#SupremeCourtofpakistan in Presidential Reference clearly said Parliamentary Party prevails. Thank You @SalmanKNiazi1 pic.twitter.com/0EiK7WsFyT
— Arshad Sharif (@arsched) July 22, 2022
As a result, Parvez Elahi challenged the controversial ruling of the deputy speaker. The petition stated that the ruling violated the apex court’s decision with regard to the interpretation of Article 63 A of the Constitution and asked the court to annul the ruling.