Governor can set CM trust vote date in ongoing session: LHC.

LAHORE -- The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday said the governor, during an ongoing session of the provincial assembly, was authorised to set a date for the chief minister to take a vote of confidence, which the latter would be bound to comply with.

The court made these comments while hearing Punjab Chief Minister Parvez Elahi's petition challenging Governor Baligh Ur Rehman's order that denotified the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leader as the chief minister.

The governor had denotified CM Elahi last month after he failed to take a vote of confidence from the Punjab Assembly.

A five-member bench headed by Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh, comprising Justice Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal, Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh, Justice Muzamil Akhtar Shabir, and Justice Asim Hafeez, heard the case.

At the last hearing on December 23, the bench restored the provincial cabinet and Parvez Elahi as CM after he assured the court he would not dissolve the assembly after regaining control of the office.

The LHC had also issued notices to all the parties in the case and summoned them on January 11 (today).

The court suspended the governor's order till the next hearing and also did not make it compulsory for the chief minister to take a vote of confidence on the Punjab governor's orders.

During today's hearing, Justice Sheikh asked Elahi's counsel if he wanted the case to be decided on merit or if his client was ready to take the vote of confidence.

'A decision on chief minister has to be made through a floor test,' added Justice Sheikh.

Ali Zafar responded that his client became the chief minister by taking votes in the assembly.

Upon...