PML-N to challenge CM Elahi’s reinstatement in SC

• Development unfolds at PM Shehbaz's residence.
• PML-N counsels prepare petition draft.
• Federal ministers earlier urged SC to take notice.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Saturday decided to approach the Supreme Court in its bid to challenge the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) verdict reinstating Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, sources told Geo News.

The LHC had, a day earlier, restored the provincial cabinet and Elahi as the chief minister after he assured the court about not dissolving the Punjab Assembly once he regains control of the office.

The development, according to sources, came after the party’s members of the Punjab assembly met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at his residence in Lahore.

Sources said that the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid’s (PML-Q) Tariq Basheer Cheema was also present in the high-level meeting where the decision to challenge CM Elahi’s reinstatement was taken.

It was learnt through sources that PML-N’s counsels also prepared a draft of the petition to be submitted to the apex court against the LHC’s order.

Earlier today, the federal government urged the country's top court to take notice of the ongoing turmoil in Punjab, stating that the LHC's decision does not fit legal parameters.

Federal ministers Khawaja Saad Rafique, Rana Sanaullah, and Tariq Bashir Cheema had earlier in the day requested the apex court to take suo motu notice of Punjab's deteriorating political situation, including the chief minister's reinstatement.

CM Elahi's reinstatement

Before reinstating Elahi, the LHC sought an undertaking from him against the dissolution of the Punjab Assembly to lessen the ongoing political turmoil in the province.

A five-member bench — headed by Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh and including Justices Justices Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal, Tariq Saleem Sheikh, Asim Hafeez and Muzamil Akhtar Shabir — heard the case.

Following the PML-Q leader's assurance, the court reinstated him as the chief minister and also issued notices to all parties in the case, summoning them on January 11.

The court suspended Punjab Governor Baligh-ur-Rehman's order till the next hearing and also did not make it compulsory for the CM to take a vote of confidence on his orders.

The Punjab chief minister was de-notified by the governor in the wee hours of December 23 after he failed to take a vote of confidence despite the passage of several hours.

Despite submitting assurance to the LHC, Elahi insisted on dissolving the provincial legislature in line with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan's directives.