Punjab CM election: Legal wizards weigh in on Deputy Speaker PA Dost Mazari's ruling.

On Friday, the much-awaited election for the chief minister of Punjab, as against PTI's expectations, took a dramatic turn and PML-N's candidate Hamza Shahbaz successfully retained the province's top post, defeating Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervez Elahi with three votes.

Following the counting of votes, Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Dost Mazari, citing Article 63(A) of the Constitution, rejected 10 votes cast by PML-Q members. As a result, Hamza received 179 votes, while Elahi managed to bag 176 votes.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan, back in May, had ruled the votes of dissident members of the Parliament (MPs), cast against their parliamentary party's directives, cannot be counted.

The apex court, issuing its verdict on the presidential reference seeking the interpretation of Article 63(A) of the Constitution related to defecting lawmakers of the PTI, had said that the law cannot be interpreted in isolation.

During today's ruling, Article 63(A) was applied after PML-Q President, Chaudhry Shujaat, wrote a letter to the deputy speaker, saying that he had directed the party not to vote in anyone's favour. According to the party, it was PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari who had convinced Shujaat.

In response to the decicion, members of the PTI and its allied PML-Q, contested that Sajid Bhatti was the party's parliamentary leader, therefore, Shujaat's letter held "no value". Unable to convince Mazari, the PTI said it would now approach the SC against the deputy speaker's decision.

To understand the situation better, Geo News and Geo.tv reached out to legal experts to share their two cents on the situation.

'Unconstitutional move'

Shedding light on the matter, senior PTI leader Barrister Ali Zafar claimed that the ruling of the deputy speaker was "unconstitutional", adding that the SC will soon issue a verdict on the matter.

He said that when it came to casting a vote of no-confidence, the party head had no role to play, adding that the parliamentary party was the first one to decide who to vote for.

Zafar said that at the time of the no-confidence motion, PTI Chairman Imran Khan had written a letter to the National Assembly speaker, while notices to the defecting members were issued by the general-secretary of the party.

'Ruling legally flawed'

Barrister Ahmed Pansota, speaking to Geo.tv, said that in his view, under Article 63(A), the directions of a party's parliamentary head cannot be disregarded.

"In today's case, PML-Q's...