Finally, Hamza Shehbaz takes oath as Punjab Chief Minister 

Lahore: Two weeks after being elected Chief Minister of Punjab, Hamza Shehbaz has finally took oath as 21st Chief Minister Punjab in the Governor House Lahore on Saturday (today).  

Speaker of National Assembly Raja Pervaiz Ashraf administered oath to CM-elect Hamza Shahbaz on directions of Lahore High Court (LHC).

Federal Ministers, Members of Punjab Assembly and important political leaders attended the ceremony.

Reportedly, Hamza drove himself to the Governor House, while Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz also accompanied him. 

Outside the Governor’s House, heavy deployments of police and security have been tightened. 

After taking oath, Hamza Shahbaz will now leave for CM House where he will be presented with guard of honor

Hamza was elected as Punjab’s chief minister on April 16. But, he hasn’t sworn in yet as his oath-taking was deferred twice despite the LHC’s directives for not delaying the matter any further.

On Friday, the LHC directed National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to administer the oath to the CM-elect after President Arif Alvi, however, Punjab Governor Omar Sarfaraz Cheema failed to obey the earlier court orders.   

Earlier in the day, Punjab crisis was at decisive point, as in a bid to hinder the oath taking of new Punjab Chief Minister, the Governor Punjab Omar Sarfraz Cheema rejected the resignation of Usman Buzdar, saying Constitutional requirements were not fulfilled.

Rejecting the resignation, the governor reasoned that it contravenes the sub-section 8 of Article 130 of the Constitution. 

Governor also wrote a letter to Speaker Punjab Assembly Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, which states: "As per the mentioned provision of the Constitution, a resignation of the Chief Minister to be valid must meet the mentioned prerequisites (a) the Chief Minister has to address a hand written letter of resignation (b) it must be addressed to the Governor i.i Punjab and (c) the effect thereof has to be resignation from his office”. 

However, Cheema's predecessor Chaudhry Sarwar accepted the resignation on April 1 despite this error.