Seven member bench settles disqualification period(Seven member)

Islamabad. Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Monday said it will hear the lifelong disqualification case of politicians on January 2. A seven-member (Seven member)  bench headed by Chief Justice Qazi Isa will decide all disputes over the period of disqualification under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution and amendment to the Election Act 2017. The outcome of this hearing will decide the fate of Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan.

Hearing will be held in the Supreme Court
Both the top leaders of the country have been disqualified under this law. A five-member bench of the apex court had said in a 2018 judgment that the disqualification under Article 62(1)(f) was for life but was abolished by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)-led coalition government on June 26, 2017. The changes made in the Election Act-2017 have fixed the punishment of only five years for a disqualified politician. Now the Supreme Court will settle the dispute regarding the disqualification period.

Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was declared ineligible
Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was disqualified in 2017 in the Panama Papers leak case. Since then he was out of politics. Under this same law, his rival Imran Khan was disqualified in the Toshakhana case last year. However, a final decision on Khan’s disqualification has not been made and his appeal against the disqualification is still pending.