Islamabad: The Supreme Court of Pakistan issued a verdict on Wednesday that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif cannot lead any political party at least for five years due to his constitutional disqualification from public office in 2017.
The Supreme Court also maintained that all the decisions which Nawaz Sharif has made as party leader after his disqualification also stand null and void.
The apex court said that a person disqualified under Article 62 and 63 of the Constitution is not eligible to sign on any document that is needed to nominate someone to the National Assembly or Senate.
The Supreme Court has also instructed the Election Commission to remove the name of Nawaz Sharif from PML-N party leadership.
With the judgement, the court has ruled out tickets issued by Sharif for the Senate elections to be invalid. The Senate elections scheduled for March 3 will also be postponed.
Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar concluded on Thursday the hearing of several petitions against the recently-passed Elections Act 2017.
The three-member Supreme Court (SC) bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar announced the verdict on the petitions challenging the controversial Elections Act 2017. The petitions were filed by the Pakistan Tereek-i-Insaf (PTI), Awami Muslim League, PPP and others.
Following his disqualification as prime minister, Nawaz Sharif managed to approve an amendment from the parliament where Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had majority allowing him to head the party despite his disqualification in the Panama Papers case.
Nawaz Sharif was disqualified from premiership on 28 July 2017.
