LHC bench seeks arguments of Hamza's counsel.

LAHORE -- A Lahore High Court larger bench on Thursday sought arguments from a counsel for Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz whether the court could nominate anyone to administer oath to a chief minister-elect if the governor refused to do so.

The bench headed by Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan was hearing appeals of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) against three orders passed by single benches for oath-taking of Chief Minister Hamza.

Resuming his arguments, Advocate Mansoor Usman Awan, the counsel for Hamza, said the governor had no power to refuse oath to a chief minister even if it was written in the Constitution that votes of defectors were not counted. He said the governor could ask the chief minister for a vote of confidence but only after administering oath even if he believed that the election was not lawful. He said the presiding officer had the power to hold scrutiny of the votes.

PTI's counsel Imtiaz Rasheed Siddiqui interrupted the chief minister's counsel and said 'then what power does the governor have.'

The bench asked the PTI's counsel not to disrupt the proceedings and wait for his turn.

Later, the bench asked Mr Siddiqui about the letter of the then governor written to the president on the matter of the CM election. The counsel read the letter and said he personally believed that the governor was not given the right advice.

The bench asked former advocate general Ahmad Awais who was also present in court for his point of view as he had given the advice to the governor. Mr Awais said there was an extraordinary situation in the province.

The bench asked Mr Awais if he owned his advice as the governor refused to...

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