SC adjourns hearing of petitions challenging Election Act 2017 till Feb 21

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday adjourned hearing of petitions challenging Election Act 2017 till February 21.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar heard the case.

During the course of proceedings, Advocate Salman Akram Raja, counsel for the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), argued that the issuance of Senate tickets by a disqualified individual did not corrupt the entire party.

Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution pertained to disqualification and that the Election Act 2017 was not in conflict with the Constitution, he added.

Salaman Akram Raja said anti-apartheid revolutionary Nelson Mandela had also spent 27 years in jail, implying that his incarceration did not affect his ability to become the president of African National Congress and then of South Africa.

Upon this the chief justice remarked that the cases against Mandela were political.

Justice Ijazul Ahsan remarked that any attack on the court was a violation of Article 5 of the Constitution.

Salman Akram said the law did not impose any such restrictions. If someone were convicted, he got punished for that offence but he did not deprive of his other rights, he added.