Following the counting of votes, Mazari read Shujaat's letter out loud. “As party head of PML-Q, I have issued directions to all my provincial members to cast their votes in favour of Hamza Shehbaz Sharif,” Mazari quoted Shujaat as saying.
Mazari ruled that “as per this letter, according to the ruling of the Supreme Court, all the 10 votes cast by PML-Q lawmakers have been rejected”.
According to the deputy speaker, Hamza secured 179 votes whereas Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate and PML-Q leader Chaudhry Parvez Elahi got 176 votes.
Earlier in May, the top court had ruled that the votes of dissident members of the Parliament (MPs), cast against their parliamentary party's directives, cannot be counted.
Following the election, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari took to Twitter and praised his father Asif Ali Zardari, saying, "Ek Zardari sab pe bhaari."
Meanwhile, the PTI said that it would approach the apex court to challenge Mazari's ruling.
Earlier in the day, Shujaat had reportedly told his nephew Moonis Elahi that he would not support Parvez Elahi for the Punjab CM’s slot.
Talking to a senior journalist, Moonis had said that Shujaat has refused to support the PTI’s candidate for the slot of Punjab CM.
“I’ve lost and so has Imran Khan… Zardari has won,” a media outlet had quoted Moonis as saying.
“No video statement has been recorded… I went to meet him [Chaudhry Shujaat] but he refused to record the video.”
Following the news, PML-Q workers had reached the residence of Shujaat in Lahore and chanted slogans against him.