Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan. File

Tariq Butt, Correspondent / NNI News Service

As the situation develops, the 2024 general election may see the top two politicians — Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif — ineligible to contest the polls, said a report.

Presently, both are disqualified to contest election or from holding any public office. Generally, minus-one has recently been discussed vis-a-vis Imran Khan and it was speculated that Nawaz Sharif would be able to clear his convictions to take part in the upcoming polls.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) believes so but the latest verdict of the Supreme Court on the Practices and Procedures Act 2023 has dampened Sharif’s chances to clear his conviction.

The Supreme Court, though upheld the Act, did not endorse its subsection (2) of Section 5, which was about granting a right of appeal retrospectively.

The subsection was declared ultra vires the Constitution. With the right to retrospective appeal denied, Nawaz could not appeal against his lifetime disqualification from participation in politics.

With this subsection having been struck down by the court, the PML-N is now banking on another law — the Elections Act 2017 as amended in 2023 during the Shahbaz Sharif government — to insist that Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification for life is no more relevant.

In the Elections Act, an amendment was introduced in Section 232 (Qualifications and Disqualifications) to set the period of disqualification to five years.  It said that the disqualification period under Article 62 of the Constitution would not exceed five years.

Disqualification of a lawmaker will be considered for five years where the tenure of punishment is not specified in the Constitution.

Nawaz was disqualified under Article 62(1)(f) after having been declared dishonest and non-righteous in the Panama case by the Supreme Court.

The PML-N believes the Elections Act amendment will work for Nawaz, who will not even be required to approach the apex court as he has already completed his five-year disqualification period.

Others insist that without a constitutional amendment or a Supreme Court’s ruling, Nawaz’s life disqualification cannot be reduced to five years on the basis of an amendment to the law.

That amendment also contradicts the Supreme Court judgement that had held the disqualification under Article 62(1)(f) for life.

Some believe that the only hope for Nawaz is now the petition of the Pakistan Bar Council led by Ahsan Bhoon, which had challenged the lifetime disqualification of MPs.