ISLAMBAD - Chief Justice of Pakistan has decided to fix the petitions seeking apex court’s directions to declare election of Nawaz Sharif as president of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz unconstitutional, in the open court.
Justice Mian Saqib Nisar on Wednesday heard the appeals of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, the Pakistan People’s Party, Sheikh Rasheed, Jamshaid Dasti, Zulfiqar Bhutta and others, against the registrar’s order in his chamber.
After hearing the arguments of their representatives, the chief justice removed the registrar office objections, and said that the bench in the open court would decide whether the petitions were maintainable or not.
The petitioners have prayed before the court to declare that Nawaz Sharif cannot be elected as party head or office-bearer of the PML-N after having been disqualified by the Supreme Court.
They demanded that Election Act, 2017 particularly sections 203 and 232 were against the spirit of the constitution.
They said Section 203 of Election Act, 2017 per se did not expressly permit any person who had been disqualified by a court of law to remain or become an office-bearer of the political party. But Section 203 of the Act does not debar a disqualified person from becoming an office-bearer of political party therefore Section 203 is liable to be struck down as unconstitutional.
The disqualification recorded by the apex court under articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution cannot be overtaken by a sub-constitutional law.
“If a person cannot become a parliamentarian due to operation of constitutional law then he surely cannot become head of the political party,” they said.
A person who has been declared not to be “Sadiq” or “Amin”, if made the head of a political party, would mean that the person who was not “Sadiq” and “Amin” will be the head of a political party, which may have many members in the Senate and assemblies, they said.
They stated that Section 232 of the Election Act, 2017 provided for that the disqualification shall not exceed more than five years.
“The sub-constitutional law of Election Act 2017 cannot overtake the mandate of the constitution,” they said.
They stated that there were series of judgments of the Supreme Court of Pakistan regarding disqualification Article 62(1)(f).
They stated that in Ghafoor Lehri’s case the apex court held that the disqualification under Article 62(1)(f) was for life. These judgments are binding on all under Article 189 of Constitution, adding this position could be reversed by amending Article 62(1)(f) of Constitution.
The petitioners said that the election of Nawaz Sharif as president of PML-N was complete travesty of justice and fair play and was against all cannons of law, equity, constitutional and elections laws. The defection clause in Article 63A is very relevant in the present context. The party head submits a declaration to the relevant functionaries in the event a member of political party defects in terms of Article 63A, they said.
They stated that the proposed amendments and actions were also mala fide and unconstitutional as they were being introduced only to accommodate one person that was Nawaz Sharif.