Passage of bill in Senate ‘farcical’: Iftikhar Chaudhry
‘Election Bill 2017 could face judicial review’
Patriot Report
ISLAMABAD: Former Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary has said that the recently passed Election Bill 2017 could face a judicial review if it is passed through National Assembly as well.
The former Chief Justice was speaking with Editor in Chief Pakistan Group of Newspapers and Chairman Roze News Sardar Khan Niazi in Roze News program Sachi Baat.
The bill paved the way for Nawaz Sharif to again regain chairmanship of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN). If the lower house of parliament passes the bill with amendments, it will become a law after formal assent by President Mamnoon Hussain.
The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had suggested an amendment in clause 203 of the bill, which said that any individual who is not qualified to become a member of the parliament, should not be eligible to become a party’s chairperson either. Voting on the proposed amendment was done twice as during the first round some ruling party members were not present. During the second round of voting, members of the upper house voted with 38 votes against the amendment and 37 in favour.
The former Chief Justice was highly critical of the bill and declared it ‘farcical’ and said that bill will likely face a judicial review. Chaudhry said that man similar laws have been struck down by the Court in the past. He also added that ‘person specific’ laws are never looked in a good light by the Courts.
Chauhdry was also skeptical about the passage of the bill and said that it appears that other parties also fear that leaders could be disqualified and deliberately didn’t put a strong opposition to the bill.
Commenting on Former President Pervez Musharraf, Chaudhry said that Pervez Musharraf is a coward adding that otherwise he wouldn’t have left the country and would have faced the cases in Courts.
