ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said on Friday that Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain would remain president of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) and Tariq Bashir Cheema its secretary general till the next hearing of the case.

A four-member bench of the ECP headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja heard Hussain’s plea against the intra-party election, which had removed the duo as president and secretary general, respectively.

During the hearing, the CEC said that the ECP is issuing notices to the parties in the case — PML-Q leader and his brother, Pervaiz Elahi and Punjab secretary general Kamil Ali Agha and both – Shujaat Hussain and Tariq Bashir Cheema – would retain their positions till the next hearing.

The hearing was adjourned till August 16.

The counsel for Shujaat Hussain told the bench that his client got to know about a meeting of the party’s central working committee meeting, which through an unsigned letter, had decided to remove Hussain and Cheema.

He told the bench that a central working committee does not exist in the party and the leaders’ decision to hold an intra-party election was also illegal.

“The members were not aware of the meeting […] there is no list of the members who participated in the meeting, therefore, it is illegal,” he contended.

He stressed that Hussain and Cheema still hold their positions and demanded action against the leaders who called themselves members of the central working committee.

He said that the central working committee does not have the authority to remove the party president from office, while they can leave office through voluntary resignation.

He apprised the bench that the last elections of the PML-Q were held in 2021 and every person contesting in those polls was elected unopposed.

“No office bearer can be removed. They will cease to hold office only if they resign or die,” he contended.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022