Elections Act 2017 was conscious effort to favour specific individuals, rules SC

–Judgement says ‘law would have allowed those people to control the legislature who are otherwise unfit to be in parliament as per constitution’

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday issued its detailed order in the Elections Act case, wherein it has ruled that a disqualified lawmaker cannot become the head of a political party.

On February 21, the apex court had issued the short order on several petitions challenging the law.

According to the 51-page judgement, authored by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, the law was enacted to favour certain lawmakers who had been disqualified for violating articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution.

“To hold that a person who is disqualified to be king can nevertheless be given a free hand to operate as a kingmaker, who may despite lacking qualification and without going through the electoral process, act as a puppet master pull the strings and exercise political power vicariously would amount to making a complete mockery of the Constitution, the legislative process, the law, the government and values that we hold so dear and have consciously worked for, defended and incorporated in the Constitution,” the judgement stated further.

The judgement further said that if sections 203 and 232 of the law are read independently of the constitution, it would be like opening the doors to control of political parties through remote control.

Moreover, the court has ruled that the law would have allowed those people to control the legislature who are otherwise unfit to be in parliament as per the constitution.

It said further that the court has ruled earlier that the Constitution cannot be bypassed by enacting legislation.

The court has also ruled that the Panama Papers case revealed names of Nawaz’s children as owners of offshore companies, adding that the then-prime minister failed to satisfy the public due to his contradictory statements.

It added that Nawaz was disqualified as prime minister on the basis of the joint investigation team’s report under Article 62 (1) (f) of the Constitution.

Following Nawaz’s disqualification as prime minister in July 2017 in the Panama Papers case, the ruling party managed to amend the Constitution to allow the former premier to retain his chairmanship of the PML-N.

As a result, the Elections Act 2017 was passed by Parliament in October last year bringing Nawaz back as the party president despite his disqualification from the National Assembly.