April 18, 2022
LAHORE: PML-Q has decided to challenge the election of PML-N's Hamza Shahbaz as the Punjab chief minister.
The decision came during a meeting of the PML-Q and PTI's parliamentary parties, with Chaudhry Parvez Elahi in the chair.
"A bogus, unconstitutional and controversial election was held on April 16," Elahi said while addressing the meeting.
He said that the Punjab governor and advocate-general have declared the chief minister polls controversial and, therefore, it cannot be acknowledged till the situation gets clear.
"Deputy speaker Dost Mohammad Mazari held the election in the gallery, which has no constitutional value. Anyone with a megaphone can hold polls in the guests' gallery," he said.
"They can find a fake governor and take a fake oath the way they held a fake election," Elahi said.
He informed the meeting that the party has summoned a meeting of constitutional experts in which the strategy to challenge the election of chief minister will be prepared.
He said that the courts were attacked in the past and now the Punjab Assembly has been ambushed.
"Whatever happened has never happened in the history of the Punjab Assembly. The police came as if they were raiding robbers," the politician added.
He alleged that all of it was supervised by Hamza with the target to push PML-Q and PTI workers out of the assembly.
Hamza was elected as chief minister Punjab on Saturday in a ruckus marred session of the Punjab Assembly.
Ahead of the vote, three PTI members of the Punjab Assembly were arrested for attacking Deputy Speaker Dost Mohammad Mazari as the party boycotted the session to elect the new chief minister.
Hamza was elected as the new chief minister with 197 votes. While his rival Pervez Elahi did not receive any votes as his party and PTI had boycotted the polls.
Hamza is the third member of his family to be elected as chief minister of Punjab. Earlier, his father Shehbaz Sharif, who is now the PM, and his uncle former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had also held the post.