ISLAMABAD, JUL 26: The counsel for Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Dost Mohammad Mazari, Irfan Qadir, informed the Supreme Court on Tuesday that his client had instructed him not to participate further in the case proceedings and he would instead file a petition for review of the court’s decision not to constitute a full bench.

PPP counsel Farooq H. Naek also declined to participate in the court proceedings.

The development comes as the apex court resumed hearing PML-Q leader Chaudhry Parvez Elahi’s petition challenging the deputy speaker’s ruling in the recently held re-election for the Punjab chief minister, which led to Hamza Shehbaz’s victory.

The hearings commenced shortly after 11:30am. The ruling coalition had earlier said it would boycott the proceedings in protest. Lawyers for both sides had arrived in court earlier.

The developments so far

• SC rejects govt request for full court
• Ruling alliance announces boycott of proceedings
• Mazari, PPP’s lawyers tell court they will not participate in proceedings
• Deputy speaker to file review petition against decision not to constitute full bench
• CJP says bench not given “even one legal argument” for full bench formation.

A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar, is hearing the petition challenging Mazari’s ruling, which proved to be instrumental to Hamza Shehbaz’s victory.

During the election, Mazari had decided against counting the votes of 10 PML-Q lawmakers, which were cast in Elahi’s favour, citing a letter written by party President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain in which he had instructed them to vote for Hamza instead.