ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) issued on Tuesday a notice to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) for failing to appoint a party president in the stipulated time after Nawaz Sharif was denotified as member of the National Assembly on July 28.
The ECP has directed Ahsan Iqbal, PML-N’s acting secretary general, to submit a reply by October 3, after the party failed to comply despite 45 days past the stipulated time.
The next hearing is scheduled for October 3.
The ECP informed the party that according to the Political Parties Order 2002, a disqualified MNA cannot hold any position in the party.
However, on Friday, the Senate passed, with amendments, the Electoral Reforms Bill 2017 which allows a disqualified MNA to head a political party. The bill will now go back to the National Assembly for a vote.
Nawaz Sharif stepped down as the party president after the Supreme Court verdict in the Panama papers verdict disqualified him and disallowed him from holding a public office.
PML-N Chairman Raja Zafarul Haq, in his reply to petitions against Nawaz in the ECP, said that the commission does not have the authority to denotify any political party.
“The procedure to denotify is detailed in Article 17 of the Constitution,” Haq told the four-member commission hearing petitions by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) and others.
The PML-N in its written reply argued, “the PML-N is not the name of a person but the name of one of the largest political parties.”
“There is no provision of law which bars an individual from leading a political party after being allegedly disqualified as member of the parliament,” says the reply.
Raja Haq also rejected all accusations levelled against the party and its leadership.
