A bill limiting the lifetime disqualification of parliamentarians to five years was passed by Pakistan’s National Assembly on Sunday. Before this, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif can return from London and resume active politics before the general elections later this year.
In 2017, Sharif, 73, was disqualified from public office for life by the Supreme Court, and accountability courts later found him guilty of corruption.
Following a Supreme Court ruling in the Panama Papers case in 2018, the three-time former prime minister lost his eligibility for public office for life.
Apart from reducing the period of disqualification, the Election (Amendment) Bill 2023 empowers the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to announce election dates unilaterally without consulting the President.
The Bill incorporated an amendment to section 232 (disqualification due to offences) of the Election Act, 2017, on the time period for disqualification of MLAs.
The Senate had already given its approval to the bill on June 16.
Additionally, the amendment empowers the ECP to announce election dates unilaterally without consulting the President.
For a bill to become a law, the President must assent to it.
According to Geo News, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani has assumed the role of caretaker president while Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed President Arif Alvi is out of the country for Haj. It is possible that he will soon support the bill.
Sharif’s lifetime disqualification is expected to end once the law is passed, allowing him to return to the country and resume active politics ahead of the likely October general elections.
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