Imran Khan moves SC against amended election law

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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Monday challenged the Election Reforms Act 2017 in the Supreme Court (SC).

In the petition filed under Article 184/3 of the Constitution, Khan argued that the amendments in the Act are in violation of the constitution as a disqualified legislator cannot become the chief of a political party.

By passing an amendment to the law, which generally pertains to the holding of polls in the country, the ruling party had allowed ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif to regain leadership of the party. The PTI leader added that the Act is against the Political Parties Order 2002, and in direct conflict with Article 204 and 175 of the Constitution.

The petition said that the former prime minister had to resign from his position as party leader after the verdict of the Panama Papers case disqualified him from parliament.

Khan appealed to the court to eliminate Articles 9, 10 and 203 of Election Reforms Act, as he believed that these amendments were put forward to provide Nawaz with the constitutional cover he needed to become party chief again.

The intra-party election of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was held after the National Assembly passed the Elections Bill 2017 and this allowed Nawaz to regain the chairmanship of the ruling party.

Awami Muslim League (AML) leader Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed has also filed a writ petition against the Electoral Reforms Bill 2017.

“There is no precedent of such bills. It is clear that the government has given a message to Supreme Court and army that they don’t accept Supreme Court’s decision,” he had stated after filing the petition.

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