WEB DESK
The Lahore High Court has disposed of the petition pertaining to the de-notification of Punjab Chief Minister Parvez Elahi who won a crucial post-midnight trust vote in the Punjab Assembly after the Punjab governor withdrew his notification against him.
A five-member bench of LHC headed by Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh comprising Justice Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal, Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh, Justice Muzammil Akhtar Shabbir and Justice Asim Hafeez heard the case on Thursday.
With the governor taking back the notification, Punjab CM Elahi and his cabinet have been restored.
During the court proceeding, Barrister Ali Zafar, the counsel for Parvez Elahi told the bench that 186 members of the Punjab Assembly had expressed their confidence in the chief minister.
“Now we have ended the political crisis in Punjab,” the counsel added.
Justice Abid asked, “Is the governor satisfied with the vote of confidence?”
Upon this, the governor’s counsel Mansoor Awan told the court to make the assembly proceedings part of the court’s record.
Justice Abid Aziz remarked that the matter has been resolved after the governor withdrew his notification, expressing satisfaction that the matter has been resolved in the assembly.
He said that the court doesn’t want to interfere in such matters as it wants them to be settled in the legislature.
Judge said that everything has been done under the ambit of the Constitution.
The court observed that two orders had been challenged, one whereby the governor had called for a vote of confidence and the other whereby the CM had been de-notified.
As both matters were now settled with the governor withdrawing his order, the LHC held that there was no need for intervention by the court.
Meanwhile, the court set aside a notification by the chief secretary that had suspended the CM and his cabinet.
Elahi ‘wins’ post midnight trust vote in Punjab Assembly
A session of the provincial assembly was dragged late into the night on January 11 and then a new session commenced shortly after midnight with the vote of confidence on the agenda. However, a copy of the agenda was not shared as per tradition.
This move of the government was met with strong protests from the opposition who surrounded the speaker’s dais and then walked out of the session even as the voting process continued.
Later, Sibtain Khan returned to the house and commenced the new session of the assembly.
Raja Basharat had submitted a request for vote of confidence in the assembly secretariat which was then read out by the Punjab Assembly Secretary Inayatullah Lak. He also proceeded to explain the voting process.
It was followed by the ringing of the bells for five minutes to gather members.
Parvez Elahi’s entry on the assembly floor was met with strong protests and chants from the opposition members.
But as the voting process began, the opposition members stepped onto the floor and surrounded the speaker’s dais and vociferously protested.
Vote result
One PML-N MPA Arshad Malik tossed the papers of the assembly’s secretary.
Suddenly, a large number of police streamed into the house and tried to put a safety cordon around the speaker and assembly secretary.
The opposition then staged a walkout, boycotting the proceedings. They started staging a protest outside the assembly building, chanting slogans including ‘watch thief, watch thief’ in a reference to PTI Chairman Imran Khan.
Meanwhile, the gates of the assembly were locked as voting continued inside.
Earlier, Mahmoodur Rasheed said that they had 187 members in the house who would vote to express their confidence on Elahi as the chief minister.
However, an independent count showed that only 184 members of the government were present.
