PML-N to re-elect Nawaz Sharif as party president

LAHORE (92 News) – Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has on Sunday decided to re-elect former prime minister Nawaz Sharif as the party president. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) will convene a meeting of its general council on October 2 and 3 to formally begin the process of re-electing ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif as the party president. The first meeting of the council would be held at the Islamabad Convention Centre on Oct 2 after a meeting of the party’s central working committee (CWC) earlier in the morning to amend the PML-N constitution that also barred a disqualified person from holding any party office, while the second session would be held on October 3 to elect a new party president. Sources said that Nawaz Sharif would be re-elected PML-N president following the approval of Election Bill by the National Assembly. On the other hand, the former premier left for Islamabad to appear before the accountability court. Nawaz Sharif had met Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif who called on him at his residence in Jati Umrah and discussed matters relating to the party affairs. They also visited the grave of their father (Mian Sharif) and offered fateha. Earlier, Sharif had relinquished the position of PML-N chief after his ouster from power under the July 28 verdict of the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case. The representation of peoples act bars anyone who is ineligible to become a member of parliament from holding office in a political party. Ever since the Supreme Court’s verdict, the PML-N has been run by its acting president Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan Nasar, a senator from Balochistan. The bar is, however, being removed through the Electoral Reforms Bill 2017 passed by the National Assembly on August 22 and the Senate, with some amendments, a month later on September 22. The Bill has now been referred back to the lower house of parliament to pass the amended draft law.