Acting president or not, IHC will decide today

Petitioner says Sanjrani not 45 to become acting president

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) will announce its judgement today (Monday) wherein it will be finalised whether Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani is eligible to become the acting president of Pakistan.

IHC judge Justice Aamir Farooq will announce the verdict. The court had reserved its decision on February 14. Petitioner Afzal Shinwari had filed a plea through Advocate Iftikhar Bashir.

The petitioner had contested through his plea that appointing Sadiq Sanjrani would be in violation of Article 49 of the Constitution.

“According to the Constitution, a person below the age of 45 years is not eligible to become the acting president of Pakistan,” the petition stated.



According to Article 49 of the Constitution, the Senate chairman becomes acting president in the absence of the head of state. However, Article 41 states that the individual needs to be more than 45 years of age.

The petition pointed out that Sanjrani was 40 years old and did not qualify the basic requirement to hold the office of the president in the absence of President Dr Arif Alvi.