Pak poll body adjourns petitions challenging Sharif's PML-N presidency

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday adjourned the petitions challenging the re-election of ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif as the president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) for an indefinite period as the same matter is being heard by the country's Supreme Court.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) retired Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza, who is heading a three-member bench, while hearing petitions filed by the Pakistani Awami Tehreek (PAT), Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and other parties against Sharif's PML-N presidency, noted that the Elections Act 2017 had already been challenged in the Supreme Court, the Dawn reported.

Sharif, who had been asked to step down as party president by the ECP following his disqualification as prime minister by the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case, was re-elected as party head after Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain ratified the Elections Bill 2017.

A controversial clause in the bill, which allows disqualified politicians to hold or to lead a political party, paved the way for former prime minister to become PML-N president.

The Supreme Court had decided to hear petitions challenging the Elections Act 2017 after Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Mian Saqib Nisar directed to fix these pleas before a bench for hearing.