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On Friday, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) appealed the Lahore High Court"s (LHC) ruling over the appointment of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hamza Shahbaz as Punjab"s chief minister to the Supreme Court.

Sardar Dost Muhammad Mazari, the deputy speaker of the Punjab Assembly, Hamza Shehbaz, and other people have been added as parties to the petition submitted to the high court.
Although the LHC had acknowledged the PTI"s position, the party claimed in its appeal that calling a hastily called sitting of the provincial assembly would be unfavourable.

The petition called the LHC"s decision "unconstitutional" and demanded that a reasonable period be given to call a meeting of the parliament so that all members may be present because votes are scheduled to be counted on July 1. (today).

In order to hold "fair and transparent elections," the PTI further demanded that Hamza Shahbaz be removed from his position and placed on administrative leave.

In light of their position, the PTI demanded that the election order be immediately suspended and that the Supreme Court consider their appeal as soon as possible.

"Beyond comprehension"

After submitting the plea, PTI counsel Faisal Chaudhry spoke to the media and claimed that the appeal brought attention to the "many uncertainties" in the Lahore High Court"s ruling.

The rights of Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervez Elahi have been ignored, Chaudhry continued.

The lawyer added that because certain PTI MPs had travelled to perform Umrah, a suitable period should be granted if a chief minister is to be elected.

The Lahore High Court"s decision to hold election so soon is incomprehensible, he continued.

He added that the deputy speaker was a "controversial person," and expressed additional hope that the Supreme Court would consider the "important subject" today.

How could there be a second round of voting if the original election was incorrect, he inquired.

The LHC"s decision to re-count the ballots from the most recent Punjab chief minister election will most likely give provincial head Hamza Shehbaz an easy victory in the second round of voting for the position.

With a majority of about nine votes in the Punjab Assembly, the PML-N occupies a comfortable position. The PTI and PML-Q, who are allies and do not stand a chance in the next Punjab CM election, have decided to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court and have reportedly stated their intention to boycott the elections.

On the other side, Hamza will keep his position because the LHC has told the presiding officer to count the votes for Punjab CM after deducting 25 votes from PTI defectors and move on to the second round of voting.

The LHC"s order to re-count the votes was initially misunderstood because some people believed that Hamza had been disqualified and the Punjab CM election had been deemed invalid. They also thought Usman Buzdar had been reinstated as temporary chief executive of Punjab.

The court"s ruling was hailed by the PTI"s leaders as a victory. Hamza was no longer the CM, according to Mian Mehmoodur Rashid, hence the verdict called for rejoicing.

The PTI leaders and many others learned, however, after carefully reading the decree, that the province government and the chief minister and his cabinet were still in place. Only the recounting of votes without the 25 PTI legislators who were disqualified was mandated by the court in its ruling.

Even with the information in front of the court, it was clear that Hamza lacked a simple majority. However, the court decided not to act as the presiding officer and instead requested a vote recount today.