President Dr Arif Alvi has said that he would have been in jail if he had not been in the President’s House.

“I know that I would have been in jail if I had also been a minister,” he told Hamid Mir during an interview on Geo News.

Responding to a question on the amendments in sections 57(1) and 58(1) of the Election Act 2017, he said that he would not have assented to them as they were against the Constitution.

President Alvi said that he did not expect the election to be held in January next year. However, he said that the apex court will likely give a balanced verdict as it has taken up the case.

He went on to add that the jailed PTI Chief Imran Khan was still his leader.

After Mir recalled Aleema Khan’s statement about him being unhappy with the president, he said that the former prime minister kept a critical eye on him as a friend and a leader.

It is pertinent to mention that Sadiq Sanjrani, who was acting president at the time, signed the Election (Amendment) Bill 2023, paving the way for Nawaz Sharif and Jahangir Tareen to contest elections.

After the approval by the acting president on Monday, the bill has become an act of Parliament, in which the duration of disqualification will not exceed five years if it has not been specifically outlined.