Nawaz Sharif elected PML-N president unopposed

Liaquat Ali

Lahore: Former prime minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif was once again elected unopposed as president of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) after six years.

The party’s Chief Election Commissioner Rana Sanaullah made the announcement about the election results in a general council meeting of the party held at a local hotel on Tuesday.

On this occasion, Rana Sanaullah said that he was going to present the proceedings that took place for the post of party president. He stated that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif tendered his resignation from the position of party president on May 11, 2024, mentioning reasons for his resignation and explaining that in 2017, under a conspiracy, Nawaz Sharif was removed and false cases were made against him. “Shehbaz Sharif further said that he wanted to entrust the party leadership back to Nawaz Sharif as all fake cases against him have come to an end,” he added.

Rana Sanaullah said that following Shehbaz Sharif’s resignation, a meeting of the central working committee was held on May 18, as per the party constitution. The committee asked Shehbaz Sharif to continue his responsibilities until the election of a new president and also constituted an election commission to hold the elections, he added.

He mentioned that May 28 was the last day for the submission of nomination papers and ten nomination papers were received during the stipulated time, wherein Nawaz Sharif was nominated as a candidate.

He explained that in this situation, Nawaz Sharif was the only candidate whose papers had been received and approved. The action was implemented under Articles 15, 120A, and 121 of the party constitution. Today’s meeting, fully supporting and approving of this action, declared Muhammad Nawaz Sharif as the elected president of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, he said.

Rana Sanaullah stated that the members who were in favor of this resolution should stand up and express their approval. At this, all the participants present in the general council meeting fully supported the resolution.

Earlier, while addressing the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Senator Ishaq Dar said that in 2017, their leader was disqualified. He said that at this stage, certain amendments were proposed in the party’s constitution so that Nawaz Sharif could retain his post as party president. However, the then chief justice of Pakistan, Saqib Nisar, invalidated these amendments, he added.

He said that on the instructions of Nawaz Sharif, the party’s presidency was handed over to Shehbaz Sharif, who said on the first day that it was Nawaz Sharif’s trust.

Speaking on this occasion, PML-N General Secretary Ahsan Iqbal said that those who removed the leader from the party in 2017 were being disgraced in the annals of history, whereas their leader and party succeeded. He added that the election of Nawaz Sharif would make their party a nuclear power.

Newly elected PML-N President Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif also addressed the meeting.

The PML-M general council meeting was also attended by other party leaders, including Hamza Shehbaz , Federal Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, Federal Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Federal Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar, Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Federal Minister for Industries Rana Tanveer Hussain, Federal Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzaib, Federal Minister for Gilgat Baltistan and Kashmir Affairs Ameer Muqam, PML-N Information Secretary and Senior Provincial Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Pervaiz Rasheed, Engr. Khurram Dastgir, Shaza Fatima Khawaja, Tehmina Daultana, Rafique Rajwana, Dr. Musaddiq Malik, Chaudhry Tanveer, Javed Latif, Rana Muhammad Iqbal, Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Abdul Qayyum, Irfan Siddiqui.