Profile: Hamza Shehbaz the new chief minister Punjab

Hamza Shehbaz Sharif, who took oath as the 21st chief minister of Punjab today, is the eldest son of Shahbaz Sharif, the prime minister of Pakistan.

The younger Sharif was born on September 6, 1974, in Lahore, as per the website of the Punjab assembly. He graduated from the Government College, Lahore, and then went on to complete his L.L.B from the London School of Economics.

Sharif, officially, began his political career after the military takeover of General Pervaiz Musharraf in the late 90s.

In 2008, he contested for the seat of the Punjab assembly, as an independent candidate, as well as for the national assembly. While he lost the provincial election to Salman Rafique, he became a member of the national assembly from 2008 to 2013 and again from 2013 to 2018.

In 2018, he contested and won one national assembly seat and one from Punjab. He later decided to retain his provincial constituency and gave up the national one.

The same year, Hamza Shehbaz was fielded by the opposition as a candidate for chief minister Punjab, but he lost to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf candidate Usman Buzdar and appointed as the leader of the opposition in the Punjab Assembly. He is the vice president of his party, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N.

In his 2018 election nomination papers, he declared two wives, Mehrunissah Hamza and Rabia Hamza.