ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has elected Senator Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan Nasir as its acting President.
The Central Working Committee of PML-N approved Senator Sardar Yaqoob Nasir as the acting President of the Party in its meeting held in Islamabad on Thursday with Raja Zafarul Haq in the Chair.
Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and former Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan were also present in the meeting.
Sources said that under the PML-N Constitution, a Senior Vice President can only be made as the acting or permanent President of the Party. They said that Shahbaz Sharif is the President of PML-N Punjab; therefore, according to the Constitution, he cannot be directly elected as the PML-N acting President.
Sources said that the PML-N’s Central General Council will meet after 45 days in which Shahbaz Sharif will be elected as the Senior Vice President of the PML-N.
They said that Shahbaz Sharif will be the permanent President of PML-N.
Sardar Yaqoob Nasir belongs to Balochistan, and he has been the Federal Minister as well as the Provincial Minister in the Past. He was elected Senator in 2015 on PML-N ticket after Iqbal Zafar Jhagra became Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had issued a notice to PML-N on August 8, asking it to elect a new President of the party following the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
The ECP had said as per the Political Parties Order 2002, a person disqualified for being member of National Assembly could not head a political party.