A convicted person can hold party office, Maryam tells ECP

ISLAMABAD: PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz Sharif submitted a written reply to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday stating that there was no restriction in the Constitution and the Election Act barring a convicted individual from holding a party office. The reply further stated that such laws were made during the military dictatorships to bar the nomination of public representatives.

“There’s a clause in the Political Parties Order 2002 according to which a sentenced man cannot hold a party position. Parliament had abolished it in the Election Act 2017,” she submitted. A three-member bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan heard the petition filed by the Pakistan PTI leaders against the PML-N leader. The bench asked the petitioners to submit the original copy of notification confirming Maryam’s appointment as the acting vice president.

Maryam’s lawyer told the court that the petitioners had submitted newspaper clippings and not the official notification. Maryam’s lawyer Barrister Zafarullah Khan told the bench that the PML-N’s reply would be submitted in the coming week.

Meanwhile, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) member asked about submission of appointment notification on which the lawyer said the plaintiff had only attached newspaper cuttings to the petition. The hearing was adjourned till July 4. The petition was filed by PTI MNAs Maleeka Bukhari, Farrukh Habib and Javeria Zafar on May 9.