Maryam to remain party's vice president: Pakistan Election Commission

In a relief to Maryam Nawaz, Pakistan's top election body on Tuesday rejected a plea to remove her from the post of vice president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party. The 45-year-old daughter of jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who founded the party, was appointed on the post by the party in May. Sharif's brother Shehbaz is currently the president of the party.

The appointment was challenged in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) by the lawmakers of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on the grounds that she was convicted by an accountability court in Avenfield corruption case in 2018. Maryam was sentenced to seven years in jail in July 2018 in connection with the case that pertains to the ownership of the Sharif family's posh apartments at Avenfield House, London. The sentence was, however, suspended by the Islamabad High Court.

A three-member ECP bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) retired Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza Khan dismissed the petition without granting relief to the petitioners. However, the bench ruled that Maryam cannot be appointed as the acting president of the party and she should not accept any functional position in the party.

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