Punjab governor administers oath to CM Hamza Shehbaz in Pakistan

Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman on Saturday administered the oath to newly re-elected Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz after a day of drama that ended with Chaudhry Parvez Elahi's shock defeat in the contest for the slot as provincial assembly Deputy Speaker Dost Mazari decided not to count the votes of PML-Q lawmakers.

Hamza, clad in a black sherwani, was administered the oath at a ceremony held at the Governor House in Punjab.

In the television footage of the ceremony, slogans of "Aik Zardari Sab Pe Bhaari" (one Zardari outweighs them all) were heard immediately after Hamza took the oath.

It is the second time that Hamza beat Elahi in the contest for the Punjab CM. The last time he had secured victory on April 16, his oath-taking had been delayed for days with then-governor, Omer Sarfraz Cheema, refusing to administer the oath to him. Eventually, National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf administered the oath to him on April 30, following the Lahore High Court's



directives.

The run-off election for the province's top office was held yesterday, in line with the Supreme Court's directives.

The session, which began hours after its scheduled time, saw Hamza being re-elected as the chief minister of Punjab by three votes after Deputy Speaker Mazari rejected all 10 votes cast by the PML-Q on the pretext that they had violated the orders of their party chief.

After counting the polled votes, the deputy speaker had announced that Elahi bagged 186 votes, while Hamza could get just 179 votes. However, he had refrained from declaring Elahi the chief minister.

Instead, he had indicated that as party chief, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain's instruction to PML-Q members to vote for Hamza instead of Elahi held greater sway.

Parvez Elahi has challenged Hamza's re-election in the Supreme Court and the PTI's Fawad Chaudhry has said his party may also approach the apex court on the matter,