Convicted person can hold party position, Maryam submits reply to ECP

ISLAMABAD: Maryam Nawaz, daughter of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, submitted on Tuesday a written reply to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in a petition seeking her removal as PML-N vice president.

Maryam furnished the reply through her counsel, stating that there is no restriction in the Constitution and the Election Act that prevented a convicted person from holding party office.

She said: “During dictatorships, there used to be a clause in Political Parties Order 2002 that barred a convict from holding a party position. The parliament had done away with this clause in Election Act 2017.”

A bench of the commission, headed by Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Sardar Muhammad Raza, adjourned the hearing until July 4 when a lawyer for the PML-N will file its reply.

The reference was filed by PTI MNAs Farrukh Habib, Maleeka Ali Bokhari, Kanwal Shauzab and Javeria Zafar.

At a previous hearing, PTI counsel had informed the bench that Maryam Nawaz was appointed as the party’s vice president on May 03, 2019.

The CEC asked is it an appointment or election on the party office?

“No intra-party elections were held for this PML-N office,” the counsel responded.

The counsel said that Maryam Nawaz was convicted by an accountability court and has been declared disqualified for holding any political or public office and her appointment as PML-N vice president is in conflict with the law and the constitution.

The petitioner said that the High Court had suspended Maryam Nawaz’s sentence on September 19.