ISLAMABAD: The chief election commissioner (CEC) on Wednesday told the legal counsel of the Pakistani Awami Tehreek (PAT) that the recent amendments to the Elections Act 2017 had provided a legal cover to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has been hearing petitions lodged by PAT, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and other parties challenging the party presidency of Nawaz Sharif, who had been asked to give up PML-N’s presidency following the Supreme Court’s verdict in the Panama Papers case on July 28 that declared him disqualified from holding public office.
The government, however, introduced amendments to the Election Bill 2017 through the National Assembly on Oct 2, paving way for leaders barred from holding public office to lead a political party, allowing Nawaz Sharif to head PML-N as party president.
A day later, Nawaz was re-elected president of PML-N unopposed.
Following Nawaz’s re-election as party president, opposition parties filed petitions in the ECP challenging Nawaz’s re-election.
During Wednesday’s hearing, the CEC stated that amendments had been introduced to rules relating to holding of party offices in the Constitution.
The next hearing of the case will be held on Nov 30.