ISLAMABAD: (DNA) – Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar on Wednesday allowed a petition challenging Election (Amendment) Act, 2017 dismissing registrar office’s reservations to contact concerned forums.

During an in-chamber appeal, the CJP directed concerned authorities to set up hearings pertaining to the appeal filed against the approval of Election (Amendment) Act, 2017 by Awami Muslim League [AML] chief Sheikh Rasheed, Pakistan People’s Party Member National Assembly Jamshad Dasti and nine others.

The registrar office had previously expressed reservations against all 12 requests, upon which the petitioners requested for an in-chamber hearing with the CJP.

The bill – passed by the Senate – sought that a person who is not eligible to be elected as a member of parliament on account of being disqualified by a court of law should be barred from becoming office-bearer of any political party.

On Tuesday, the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) government managed to block the opposition’s move in the National Assembly to prevent a disqualified person from heading a political party and paved way for deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif to continue calling the shots in his eponymous PML-N

In the house of 342 members, the ruling PML-N garnered support of 163 MNAs against the “Election (Amendment) Act, 2017”, presented in the house by Naveed Qamar – the parliamentary leader of the leading opposition party in the National Assembly, the PPP. As many as 98 lawmakers – all from opposition benches, except for former PM Mir Zafarullah Jamali, who belongs to the ruling party – voted in favour of the bill.