The Lahore High Court on Wednesday sought further arguments on maintainability of a petition challenging the July 28, 2017, notification by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) which denotified Nawaz Sharif as prime minister on March 1. Earlier, A K Dogar advancing his arguments contended that the ECP had denotified Nawaz Sharif illegally and unlawfully as the prime minister could only be removed through a no-confidence move in the parliament.

He said a prime minister could only be removed by a mandate of majority vote in the national assembly. He said since the ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif was elected through votes and his denotification issued by the ECP was unconstitutional.

Advocate Dogar further said the high court had the jurisdiction to strike down the impugned notification of the ECP. He argued that the petition was maintainable under the constitution and the court should suspend the impugned notification till decision of the main petition.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2018