Nawaz Sharif to benefit as Senate passes Electoral Reforms Bill 2017

ISLAMABAD: The Senate on Friday passed the Electoral Reforms Bill 2017 paving way for the former PM Nawaz Sharif to regain PML-N’s chairmanship, ARY News reported.

The bill was passed by a house session chaired by chairman Raza Rabbani. Amendment suggested by Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) lawmaker Aitzaz Ahsan was rejected.

Aitzaz, along with other opposition lawmakers, wanted to amend clause 203 of the bill. The clause allows a person who is ineligible to become a member of the parliament to head a political party.

At least 241 clauses of the bill were approved after voting in the upper house. 37 votes were cast in favour of the amendment in clause 203 while 38 votes opposed the crucial amendment.

In a series of tweets, PML-N leader Khawaja Saad Rafique thanked the senators and their respective parties who voted for the bill to pass as it is and termed it the “failure of conspiracy” to keep Nawaz Sharif out of politics.

He also criticised PTI and PPP for their “shameful” behaviour of opposing the bill, adding that it may save PTI chief Imran Khan in future.

Back in July, a five-judge Supreme Court bench disqualified then PM Nawaz Sharif in a unanimous verdict in the Panamagate case, thus cutting short his third stint in power.

Soon after the SC judgement, the PM House issued a terse statement saying that Nawaz Sharif, despite having reservations on the SC’s verdict, has stepped down from his post as the premier.

Sharif served as prime minister twice in the 1990s but failed to complete his tenure. In his second term he was ousted in October 1999 coup leading to a decade of exile. He won a third term as prime minister in 2013 general election.