Earlier on Monday, the Supreme Court rejected the government's plea for a full court bench for the hearing of petitions related to the Punjab chief minister’s election held on Friday. Following this, the leaders of the coalition government announced that they are boycotting the Supreme Court’s proceedings in the Punjab chief minister election case.
The lawyers of the three parties that make up the coalition government told the Chief Justice on Monday that their clients have boycotted the proceedings.
At the beginning of the proceeding, the Punjab deputy speaker's lawyer Irfan Qadir said that his client has instructed him not to fight the case as he was boycotting the proceedings. He added that his client will be filing a review application against the court's decision to reject the plea for a full court.
At this the CJP asked if other lawyers present were of the same opinion, at which the lawyer for the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Farooq H. Naik said that his party is also boycotting the proceedings and will not appear before the court.
Bandial responded that it does not matter since the PPP was not party to the case, at which Farooq Naik said that they have appealed to be made a party.
The chief justice also said that the decision to reject the appeal for a full court bench was taken because no important legal arguments regarding its necessity were brought forward, and added that it would be very difficult to arrange a full court bench before September anyway.