Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court Syed Mansoor Ali Shah on Tuesday sought reply from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) by November 16 in a petition of outgoing secretary of the Supreme Court Bar Association against Nawaz Sharif for his election as president of the PML-N. The petitioner Aftab Ahmad Bajwa through his counsel Muhammad Azhar Siddique said the impugned amendment was incorporated in Election Act 2017 only to facilitate Nawaz Sharif to become head of his party despite disqualification in the Panama case.
He pleaded that a person who could not become a parliamentarian due to operation of constitutional law was also unable to hold any office of a political party. He said the election of Nawaz Sharif as president of PML-N amounted to making mockery of justice and canons of law. He submitted that all the laws relating to elections cannot be articulated through a single legislation. He therefore prayed the court to declare that the Nawaz Sharif cannot enjoy a party office for having been disqualified by the Supreme Court. He also prayed the court to declare sections 203 and 232 of the Election Act, 2017 as unconstitutional, mala fide and of no legal effect.