Shahbaz returns to Assembly
Pakistan's SC issues a notice to PML(N) leader Shahbaz Sharif on a petition challenging his election to Punjab Assembly.
Pakistan's Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice to PML(N) leader Shahbaz Sharif on a petition challenging his election to Punjab Assembly, hours after he made a comeback to the House as a member following a nine-year gap.
Shahbaz, brother of former premier Nawaz Sharif, was elected unopposed to the provincial assembly and the PML(N) parliamentary party on Thursday chose him as the new Chief Minister of Punjab.
The 57-year-old leader was administered the oath by Speaker Rana Mohammad Iqbal after being accorded a warm welcome by legislators belonging to the PML-N and its ally Pakistan People's Party.
Shahbaz earlier served as Chief Minister of Punjab in the late 1990s before he went into exile along with his brother, former premier Nawaz Sharif.
PML-N leader Dost Muhammad Khosa, who was made interim Chief Minister by the party, is expected to resign along with his cabinet before Shahbaz's formal election as Chief Minister by the assembly.
Hours after the PML-N president was sworn in as a member of the assembly, the Supreme Court issued notices to him, the Election Commission and the federal government, asking them to respond by June 9 to a petition seeking a stay on the notification of Shahbaz's membership of the House.
The petition, filed by politician Khurram Shah, challenged Shahbaz's election to the Assembly. Khurram Shah and another politician Noor Elahi have also filed petitions in the Lahore High Court, challenging the candidature of Shahbaz and Nawaz Sharif in the June 26 by-polls.