Pak SC to hear 13 petitions challenging Elections Act, 17

With the advent of the new year, Pakistan's Supreme Court will hear as many as 13 petitions challenging the Elections Act, 2017.

The three-member bench of the apex court, comprising Chief Justice Nisar, Justice Faisal Arab and Justice Ijazul Ahsan will hear the petitions on Monday.

The Elections Act, 2017, passed in October amid a strong protest from the opposition parties, permitted a disqualified parliamentarian to hold party office and thus enabled former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to re-emerge as president of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), reported the Dawn.

The former premier, who resigned as the prime minister in July after the Supreme Court disqualified him over unclaimed salary from the company of his own son, was also forced to step down as the president of PML-N. However, after the promulgation of Elections Act, 2017, Sharif was re-elected as the PML-N president.

Petitioners, by large, are political opponents of Sharif, including Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Sheikh Rashid Ahmed of the Awami Muslim League, Jamshed Dasti and a few small political parties.

Rashid, in his plea, pleaded that the Sharif-specific amendment to the law was mala fide and unconstitutional since it was introduced to accommodate only one person, the report said.

Meanwhile, the PPP, through its secretary general Sardar Latif Khosa, has sought a declaration from Pakistan's SC that the PML-N government should be restrained from governance until the removal and replacement of Sharif with an eligible person.