Plea against Maryam Nawaz’s appointment as PML-N vice-president dismissed

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) dismissed the plea challenging the appointment of Maryam Nawaz as vice president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Tuesday. A three-member ECP ruled that Maryam Nawaz can hold the party office conditionally. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA Furrukh Habib, Maleeka Bukhari, Kanwal Shozab and Javeria Zafar had challenged the party position of Maryam Nawaz. Earlier, PTI counsel Advocate Hassan Maan had argued that Section 203 should be read with Article 62 and 63. A PTI candidate in South Punjab was dismissed from party designation on the same principle which bars disqualified leaders from holding any position in party, he said. He added that the Supreme Court said Section 203 was formulated just to benefit one person. The Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) counsel argued that some political parties are headed by their presidents, some by chairman and some by emirs. He continued that the only person which matters is the one having authority, and vice president does not possess any power. The apex court had also mentioned about party head in its verdict, the counsel added while requesting the ECP to dismiss PTI’s petition. Earlier, the petition was filed by the PTI in May this year and contended that Maryam could not hold any party position as she was convicted by a court of law on July 6, 2018 in a corruption case (Avenfield reference), filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). The PML-N leader had requested the ECP to dismiss the plea, arguing that there was no restriction in the Constitution and Election Act on a convicted person holding a party’s vice presidency.