Senator Nehal Hashmi was formally denotified from his Senate seat on Friday by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), which was acting on a Supreme Court order sentencing the former lawmaker for contempt of court.

The ECP announced Hashmi's denotification ─ effective from Feb 1 ─ through a formal notification.

Hashmi, who had in March 2017 lashed out at the Panamagate JIT and warned investigators that they would be "taken to task" for grilling the former premier's family, has been sentenced to a month in jail and barred from holding public office for the next five years. He had also been handed a Rs50,000 fine by the apex court on Thursday.

According to DawnNews, Hashmi, who has three stents in his coronary arteries, had complained of poor health soon after the SC verdict against him. On Friday, he was admitted to the Adiala Jail hospital due to chest pain.

Some medical tests were also reportedly conducted, after which some PML-N politicians pushed for his transfer to PIMS Hospital.

Jail authorities are now considering whether to move Hashmi to the Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology. A final decision in this regard will be taken by the penitentiary's resident heart specialist.