By Raza Ruman
Dawn raises serious question on the Supreme Court’s recent order to hold a run-off election for the Punjab chief minister as how has a person (Hamza Shehbaz) who didn’t legally win the election been running the affairs of the largest province of the country for over three months?
This further casts doubts over the legality of the recently passed provincial budget by the Hamza government — on its own Punjab Assembly session that session was held at Awan-i-Iqbal.
Dawn exposes the true face of the PMLN regime as how is is conveniently operating in Punjab with the help of those matter.
The apex court has not elucidated these issues clearly in its written order, announced on Saturday, says Dawn.
“Advocate Waseem Butt says though the court verdict has not directly touched the issues, it has indirectly given legal cover to the situation, as both parties to the litigation have struck a compromise by accepting the ‘de facto doctrine’, whatever has been done is legally valid.”
Analysts believe the SC verdict will create another legal lacuna when the Punjab Assembly is complete, after the July 17 by-polls on its 20 seats.
“As the July 22 (Punjab Assembly) session will see a run-off poll to the April 16 exercise, the 25 new MPAs will be deemed new voters not part of the previous poll. It will be a fresh poll and not a run-off,” Advocate Usama Khawar says
He says the parliamentary parties not part of the litigation, like the PPP, can challenge this flaw, while the de-seated PTI defectors may also question the validity of the votes of the new members.
Mr Khawar points out another catch in the apex court order: it neither mentions any lacuna that made the Supreme Court suspend the Lahore High Court order nor the law or proviso as the basis for its ‘intervention’.
Hamza currently enjoys the support of 177 including four of those PMLN lawmakers who literally used bad language about Nawaz Sharif for targeting Army Chief Gen Qamar Bajwa and former ISI chief Faiz Hameed and called him Baghora.
Parvez Elahi has improved his tally from 168 in the April 16 contest to 173 after the election commission, as per LHC orders, notified on Friday night five PTI MPAs against reserved seats from the priority list the party submitted before the 2018 general elections.
In July 17 by-polls, if the PTI manages to grab at least 13 of the 20 seats, it may turn the tables on Hamza Shehbaz, who needs eight seats to ensure a simple majority in the house.
The Sharif family that manages to grab the power seems least bothered about the people’s problems as it consuming all its energies to please the military establishment. PAK DESTINY
