The former chief minister of Punjab and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hamza Shahbaz has been appointed to lead the opposition in the Punjab provincial assembly.
On Sunday, according to a notification issued, Hamza was appointed as the opposition leader in Punjab.
Hamza was de-notified as the head of the opposition after he became chief minister of Punjab on April 30.
However, when Pervez Elahi was elected as the province’s chief minister, the PML-N-led government lost control of the province as the Supreme Court had deemed the previous deputy speaker of the Punjab Assembly Dost Muhammad Mazari’s decision in the chief minister’s election to be “illegal.”
Elahi has appealed the decision to the Supreme Court after losing to Hamza in the Punjab CM election on July 22 when the former deputy speaker Mazari rejected 10 PML-Q votes.
The Supreme Court had stated in an 11-page short order: “We find that the understanding and implementation of the said short judgment as well as the provisions of Article 63A(1)(b) of the Constitution by the Deputy Speaker, Provincial Assembly of Punjab, Lahore (Respondent No.1) was patently incorrect and erroneous and cannot be sustained.”
Elahi was then declared to be the legitimately elected chief minister of Punjab by the order, which determined that he had received 186 votes compared to Hamza’s 179.
