The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday issued a notice to the PML-N following its failure to elect a party president after the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif and notified that the PML-N “is now not eligible” to get the party symbol.
According to PML-N’s party constitution, it was supposed to elect a president within 45 days after the ouster of Sharif — the deadline passed on September 11.
The notice, issued to PML-N Acting Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal, said that due to its failure to elect the party head, the PML-N “is now not eligible” to get the party symbol.
The ECP fixed the matter for hearing on October 3, 2017.
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ECP can’t denotify a political party: PML-N
Earlier in the day, the counsel for PML-N leader Raja Zafarul Haq submitted before the ECP that the commission “has no jurisdiction in the matter of denotifying a political party.”
A four-member commission was hearing a petition against Nawaz Sharif as it had clubbed Constitutional applications filed by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) and others.
The PML-N in its written reply argued that “the PML-N is not a name of a person but a name of one of the largest political parties.”
“There is no provision of law which bars to lead a political party by a person allegedly having [been] disqualified to become a member of the parliament,” says the reply.
Raja Haq also rejected all accusations levelled against the party and its leadership.
The ECP will resume the hearing of the petition on October 18.
