ISLAMABAD: The Sup­reme Court on Wednesday fixed for hearing all nine petitions challenging the controversial Elections Act 2017, which allows a disqualified parliamentarian to hold party office.

These petitions had been earlier returned by the registrar’s office on the grounds that the petitioners had directly approached the apex court instead of availing the remedies offered by the appropriate forums.

The petitioners assailed the registrar’s decision to return the petitions, and following the defeat in the National Assembly of the opposition-sponsored, Nawaz Sharif-specific amen­dment to the newly-passed election law, Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar took up the matter in his chambers on Wednesday.

He mainly heard senior counsel Farogh Naseem, who argued on behalf of Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, and after the in-chamber hearing, the chief justice ordered the court’s office to remove the objections and directed his office to fix the petitions before a bench of the court, which would be constituted later.

CJ fixes all nine petitions for hearing; bench may rule on maintainability before proceeding further

However, that bench will be free to decide first whether the petitions are maintainable or not.

Apart from Sheikh Rashid, other petitioners include the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Advocate Zulfikar Ali Bhutta, All-Pakistan Aam Aadmi Party, the Justice Party, Mohammad Dawood Ghaznavi, Sheikh Ahsan­uddin, Jamshed Dasti and Abdul Wadood Qureshi.

During the in-chamber hearing, Barrister Naseem argued that the petition he instituted on behalf of his client fell within the category of public interest, as well as dealing with the enforcement of fundamental rights.

He maintained that an individual, who had been disqualified by a five-judge Supreme Court bench, had become head of the largest political party of the country and would now be running the party’s affairs.

This development not only affects the public at large, but also the entire country, since what he cannot do inside the parliament, he will still be able to while remaining outside parliament.

The counsel highlighted that under the July 28 judgement in the Panama Papers case, the Supreme Court had held that it was the right of the people to be governed by honest leaders.

In his petition, Sheikh Rashid pleaded that the Nawaz Sharif-specific amendment to the law was mala fide and unconstitutional, since it was introduced to accommodate only one person, who had already been disqualified by the Supreme Court under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution.

The petition argued that the act of making Nawaz Sharif head of the PML-N was against Articles 62, 63 and 189 of the Constitution, and unless the court immediately intervened, a grave prejudice would be caused to the petitioner and the public at large.

Meanwhile, the PPP, thr­ough its Secretary General Sardar Latif Khosa, has sought a declaration from the Supreme Court that the PML-N government should be restrained from governance until the removal and replacement of Nawaz Sharif with an eligible person.

Moreover, it asks that Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and his cabinet be prohibited from accompanying Sharif’s entourage on the latter’s hearings before an accountability court, which violates the oath they have taken while assuming state responsibilities.

The petition also asked the court to declare illegal Mr Sharif’s election to the PML-N’s top office by declaring that the provisions of Section 203 of the Elections Act 2017 were subject to the trappings of Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution and that the election was contrary to the spirit of fundamental rights.

The petition also seeks directions for the Election Commission of Pakistan to remove the name of Mr Sharif as head of the PML-N from the notified list of enlisted political parties.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2017