LAHORE   -   The Governor of Punjab cannot refuse to administer oath to an elected chief minister under any circumstances, the principal secretary to the governor told Omar Sarfraz Cheema after he decided to delay Hamza Shehbaz’s oath-taking ceremony a day earlier. Warning Punjab Governor Cheema against declining oath to the CM-elect, the principal secretary said that the move would be a constitutional violation.

Hamza, who got elected with 197 votes — beating PTI’s candidate Chaudhry Parvez Elahi — was supposed to be sworn in as the Punjab CM on Sunday until PTI-backed Cheema abruptly postponed the oath-taking ceremony, citing the Punjab Assembly secretary’s report, the Lahore High Court’s instructions and the “facts presented to him.”

However, a letter issued by the principal secretary stated that the governor has no power vested under the Constitution or any law that authorises him to disregard the election under any circumstances.

“The Punjab Assembly secretary had in all probability rendered himself liable to contempt proceedings for a completely illegal report that smacks of mala fide,” read the letter. The secretary told the governor that the assembly secretary’s report had been found one-sided, biased and politically motivated.

“I have no power under any provision of the Constitution, the law or the Rules of the Punjab Assembly 1997 to call into question the declaration of the result by the deputy speaker, who is duly authorised by the Lahore High Court to conduct the election for the office of the chief minister,” he added.

The PA secretary had already been suspended by the deputy speaker and his entry into the House has been banned, the letter added.