Governor of Pakistan's Punjab province, Omer Sarfraz Cheema sought advice from President Arif Alvi to resolve the issue of "disputed elections" for the Chief Minister's office.
In a six-page letter addressed to the President, Cheema explained his constitutional reasons for not administering the oath to the newly elected Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz which he had also explained to Lahore High Court, Dawn newspaper reported.
Cheema also sought advice on the resignation of outgoing chief minister Usman Buzdar which was addressed to the prime minister and not to the office of the governor as required under article 130(8) of the Constitution.
In his letter, the governor said that he had reasons for restraining himself from administering the oath-ceremony to the CM.
The Governor also stated that the election process for the conduct of the Chief Minister's election is a classic case of constitutional violations and rules framed thereunder and the order of the Lahore High Court division bench.
At Lahore High Court, the Governor said that the election for the recording of votes of the Chief Minister was prima facie filled with legal lacunae and loopholes that under no stretch of the imagination could be plugged, reported Dawn.
"As per my understanding of the constitutional provisions applicable in the instant matter in terms of rules, the elections for the recording of votes of the chief minister is prima facie filled with legal lacunae and loopholes which under no stretch of the imagination could be plugged and seemingly and it manifest that there is a flagrant disregard of the judgement rendered by the [LHC] division bench," the governor was quoted as saying by Dawn.
He further stated, "It becomes crystal clear that the way the election of Chief Minister and recording of votes have been conducted is a sheer violation of the Second Schedule and against the spirit of the directions being given by the LHC division bench".
Governor Cheema said that none of the articles of the Constitution bound him to proceed in a mechanical way to administer the oath in a situation where the whole procedure for conducting elections had been violated.
"I cannot proceed in a mechanical way under Article 130(5) of the Constitution of Pakistan. Needless to bring to your knowledge that there is no time period prescribed either in the Constitution for conducting the oath," Cheema said.
Punjab's Governor called the Punjab Assembly secretary's report sufficient evidence for proving that the election of the CM was unconstitutional.
He said the report "demonstrated that the election of the chief minister was an offshoot of an unconstitutional act, henceforth, as per my Constitutional understanding and conscience as the Governor I cannot proceed under Article 130 (5) in the instant case without averting to the specific Articles of the Constitution to take oath from the chief minister whose status under the Constitution has become extremely disputed," according to Dawn.
Meanwhile, the oath-taking of the Chief Minister of Punjab, Pakistan Muslim League's (PML-N) Hamza Shahbaz has been deferred once again as the Senate chairman Sadiq Sanjarani couldn't reach Lahore.
( With inputs from ANI )
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