Report onplea against Election bill sought

LAHORE :Lahore High Court Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah on Wednesday directed a petitioner to inform the court till Thursday (today) about any action taken by Supreme Court on a petition challenging the Elections Bill 2017.

During the preliminary hearing the petition of Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT), the point was raised that on the same point a petition was filed before the apex court of the country. The petitioner said that so far the Supreme Court had not taken the cognizance of any such petition.

The chief justice directed the petitioner to inform the court about it on Thursday (today). Earlier, the petitioner had submitted that the recently-passed bill contained a clause which allowed the politicians disqualified from holding public office to lead political parties.

He said that the National Assembly on October 2 passed the bill to pave the way for the former prime minister to regain the office of  head of the ruling party, and President Mamnoon Hussain also ratified it.

He said that the impugned bill was against the spirit of the constitution. He said it was not in the national interest and was against the democratic norms. He said that to appoint a disqualified person as head of a political party amounted to making mockery of the law and the constitution. He requested the court to declare the newly enacted law as null and void.