Nawaz again in helm: hampering the law?

Ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been reelected as president of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) 'unopposed' after a rushed constitutional amendment.  Nawaz Sharif was not remained qualified to be president of the party after he was ousted by Supreme Court in its historical July 28th Panama case verdict.  According to details, no candidate submitted nomination papers in contest of Nawaz Sharif as PML-N leader Tariq Fazal Chaudhary submitted nomination papers of Sharif.

The treasury benches on October 2 paved the way for Nawaz Sharif to again become party chief, as they successfully managed to get passed the Election Bill 2017 from the National Assembly despite strong protest from opposition lawmakers, while the president signed it into a law in the evening.

The bill has a controversial amendment that will allow politicians disqualified from holding public office to head a political party. The Clause 1 of Article 203 of the Election Bill 2017 has relaxed the criteria for membership of a political party as compared to the previous law, the Political Parties Order, 2002.

A as per the previous law, a person who is not qualified or is disqualified from being a member of parliament under Article 63 of the constriction was also not allowed to become an office-bearer of a political party.

The bill was moved by Minister for Law Zahid Hamid to amend, consolidate and unify laws relating to the conduct of elections.

The opposition lawmakers strongly protested when the bill was moved, and left their seats to gather in front of the speaker's chair. They were chanting slogans against former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family members.

Enraged opposition lawmakers tore copies of the bill and threw them onto the speaker's dais as he announced its passage.

The House also passed two other bills - The Right of Access to Information Bill, 2017 and The Auditor General's (Functions, Powers and Terms and Conditions of service) (Amendment) Bill, 2017.

Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) challenged the Elections Bill 2017 in the Lahore High Court (LHC), pleading to have the law declared null and void. Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Sheikh Rasheed-led Awami Muslim League have also decided to challenge the law.

Bill for Nawaz?

In August, following Nawaz Sharif's disqualification by the Supreme Court, the Election Commission of Pakistan had informed the PML-N that according to the Political Parties Order 2002, a disqualified MNA cannot hold any position in the party.

Last week, the PML-N managed to amend the Elections Bill 2017 in the opposition-controlled Senate in favour of Nawaz's bid to become the party president. The bill will now be tabled in the Lower House of Parliament, where the PML-N holds a majority, on October 2.

According to the bill, every citizen will have the right to be a part of a political party, except those in government service, and will also have the right to form a party.

It enables the ECP to scrutinise election expenses within 90 days, failing which election expenses submitted by a political party would be deemed to be correct.

The bill states that any parliamentarian could only be disqualified for a period of five years and that ECP will be an independent and autonomous body, which will formulate its own law, and party funding details will be available online. It also restricts the caretaker government from making any policy decisions.