Supreme Court annuls lifetime disqualification for lawmakers

In a major development, the Supreme Court (SC) ended on Monday lifetime disqualification of lawmakers with a majority of 6-1 verdict.

The SC had reserved the decision last week.

A seven-member larger bench, comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, and Justice Musarrat Hilali, heard the case.

Justice Yahya Afridi dissented from the reserved verdict.

The petitions had asked the apex court to determine whether the disqualification period was lifetime or five years.

In his remarks during the hearings, CJP Isa said lifetime disqualification under Article 62(1)(F) was determined by an individual’s perception rather than by the Constitution.

CJP said he was determined to resolve the case to avoid confusion over the lifetime or five-year disqualification of lawmakers.

The proceedings were broadcast live on the Supreme Court’s website on YouTube channel.

CJP Isa had said that the SC intended to wrap up proceedings of lifetime disqualification case “very quickly” to avoid “confusion” for returning officers (ROs), ahead of the general elections scheduled for February 8.

A three-judge committee that included CJP, Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, and Justice Ijazul Ahsan had constituted the bench under the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023.

Following today’s verdict, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif and Istekam-i-Party Pakistan’s chief Jahangir Tareen have been cleared to contest the upcoming elections.

Nawaz and Tareen were disqualified for life under Under Article 62(1) (f).

According to Article 62(1) (f) of the Constitution, a person shall not be qualified to be elected or chosen as a member of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) “unless — he is sagacious, righteous, non-profligate, honest and ameen, there being no declaration to the contrary by a court of law”.

In the previous Shehbaz Sharif-led government, amendments were made in the Elections Act 2017, limiting the disqualification of lawmakers to five years.