ECP to give decision on Ch Shujaat's PML presidentship tomorrow 

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will announce tomorrow (Jan 31) its reserved verdict on a petition filed by Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain against his removal as president of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) through an intra-party election by his party in August last. 

According to 24NewsHD TV channel, a five-member bench of the ECP headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja heard the petition in August 2022 and retained Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain as Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) chief.

PML-Q President Ch Shujaat Hussain filed an application with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to stop intra-party elections. The ECP after hearing arguments from the PML-Q lawyer suspended intra-party elections of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid and retained Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain as the party chief and Tariq Bashir Cheema as secretary-general. 

The PML-Q Punjab appealed against the decision. The election commission after hearing both sides in detail reserved the decision till further date. Now, the ECP is going to announce the fate of a senior politician whether he will stay as president or not.    

In a recent move, the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) general council last week again removed Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain as the party chief. The decision was made during a consultative meeting of the party held at the Pakistan Muslim League House situated at Davis Road in Lahore. Tariq Bashir Cheema was also removed from his post of central secretary general. The participants of the general council elected Chaudhry Wajahat Hussain, Shujaat’s brother, as the new party president and Kamil Ali Agha as the central secretary general. Further, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi was elected uncontested as president of PML-Q Punjab at the meeting. Party officials and leaders from Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Sindh participated in the meeting as well as PML-Q officials from Azaad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).