Nawaz Sharif to be re-elected PML-N President

Ousted Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif will be re-elected as the President of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) during the party's general council meeting at Islamabad Convention Centre on 3 October.

The first meeting of the council would be held at the Islamabad Convention Centre on Oct 2 after a meeting of the Central Working Committee (CWC) earlier in the morning to amend the PML-N constitution that also barred a disqualified person from holding any party office.

Sharif will not leave for London till he is re-elected as the party chief. The PML-N's CWC and general council, a 1,600-strong electorate, has been summoned to elect the party's central leadership, the dawn quoted PML-N central information secretary and Minister for Climate Change Mushahidullah Khan as saying.

Sharif had relinquished the position of PML-N chief after his ouster from power under the July 28 verdict of the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case.

The Representation of Peoples Act 1976 bars anyone who is ineligible to become a member of parliament from holding office in a political party.

The re-election of Nawaz Sharif as PML-N chief is coinciding with the day when the National Assembly will pass the amendments made by the Senate in the Electoral Reforms Bill 2017.

The bar is, however, being removed through the Electoral Reforms Bill 2017 passed by the National Assembly on 22 Aug and the Senate, with some amendments, a month later on 22 Sept.

The Bill has now been referred back to the lower house of Parliament to pass the amended draft law.

Earlier, Nawaz Sharif was scheduled to fly to London on Thursday to inquire about his wife, Begum Kulsoom, who is undergoing treatment for cancer at a private hospital in the United Kingdom.

Kulsoom on Friday was discharged from the hospital where she was admitted after her condition deteriorated three days ago.

In a tweet, Maryam Nawaz said that her mother returned home and her further treatment would begin soon.

"Shukar Alhamdolillah Ami is better, discharged from the hospital & back home. Her further treatment including chemotherapy starts next week," she tweeted.

Mushahidullah said, "Since Begum Kulsoom's condition has stabilised, Mr Sharif has no plans to leave for London before 3 Oct."

Ever since the Supreme Court's verdict, the PML-N has been run by its acting president Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan Nasar, a senator from Balochistan.

-ANI

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