Appellate Tribunal reserves decision on Imran Khan’s disqualification appeal
RAWALPINDI/LAHORE/ISLAMABAD, Jan 07 (SABAH): The Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi Bench reserved on Sunday its decision on the disqualification appeal by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan against the rejection of the nomination papers for NA-89 Mianwali.
Justice Chaudhry Abdul Aziz presided over the election tribunal and Senator Barrister Syed Ali Zafar represented the PTI chief.
Imran Khan’s counsel prayed to the tribunal to annul the decision made by the returning officer on Imran’s nomination papers. Zafar argued that the RO lacks the authority to determine moral turpitude or eligibility without proper evidence.
He also referred to a similar case of PML-N’s Khawaja Asif before the 2018 general elections.
The tribunal stated that in the case of the PML-N leader, contention was on the issue of salary. The judge then asked if the items taken from the Toshakhana were mentioned or not. Justice Aziz then stated that they were not debating the merits of the Toshakhana case, however, the court was trying to determine if the funds from the sale of Toshakhana items were declared or not.
Director-general law, who was also present, asserted that the RO was obligated to conduct a summary hearing. He maintained that if an accused is convicted, the individual is disqualified from contesting the polls. He further added that the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has disqualified Imran Khan and it remains in effect.
The senior law officer further stated that the RO rejected the papers in accordance with the law, and therefore, it is requested that Imran’s appeal be dismissed.
Imran’s nomination papers were rejected for both NA-89 Mianwali and NA-122, Lahore. “The candidate is convicted by the court of law and he has been disqualified under Article 63 (1)(h) of the Constitution … read with section 232 of the Election Act 2017,” the RO in NA-122 said in his order.
“The proposer of the candidate is not a registered voter in the constituency of NA-122 and hit by section 60(1) of the Election Act 2017,” the RO said, citing the reasons for rejecting the nomination papers.
Earlier in a petition to the LHC, Imran Khan contended that recent amendments to the Elections Act 2017 limit the ECP’s jurisdiction in deciding the qualification or disqualification of a member based on a court conviction.
The PTI founder urged the court to set aside the ECP’s notification, which disqualified him for a period of five years and purportedly de-notified him as the returned candidate from constituency NA-45 Kurram-I. He further requested the court to suspend the operation of the notification until the final disposal of the petition.
He accused the ECP of acting with unlawful zeal and haste to exclude him from the upcoming general elections rather than ensuring fair and free elections.
Meanwhile an Appellate Tribunal on Sunday dismissed appeals of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Muhammad Hammad Azhar and social activist Sanam Javed against the rejection of their nomination papers.
The tribunal, headed by Justice Tariq Nadeem, declared Azhar ineligible by upholding the objections of the RO on his nomination papers to contest the election from NA-129..
The Appellate Tribunal dismissed Sanam Javaid’s appeal against the rejection of her nomination papers.
The tribunal upheld the returning officer (RO) decision to reject incarcerated Sanam’s nomination papers submitted from two National Assembly seats and one provincial assembly seat — NA-120, NA-119 and PP-150.
On December 19, Sanam submitted her nomination papers announcing to contest elections against Maryam Nawaz from Lahore’s provincial assembly seat, PP-150.
Sanam is among dozens of PTI workers and leaders who are in custody in connection with the May 9 riots that broke out following the arrest of PTI founder Imran Khan in a graft case.
She was booked in multiple cases including an attack on the Corps Commander House in Lahore and torching of police vehicles in the Cantonment area during the violent protests earlier this year.
On the other hand, the tribunal reserved a decision on an appeal filed by Nadeem Sherwani against the acceptance of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz’s nomination papers by the returning officer from NA-119.
The decision was reserved after the petitioner submitted additional documents to support his appeal.
Meanwhile, the LHC Appellate Tribunal overturned RO’s decision of rejecting the nomination papers of PTI leader Hammad Azhar and his father Mian Muhammad Azhar from PP-171 over their seconders and proposers’ not showing up.
Their seconders and proposers appeared before the tribunal upon which Justice Ahmed Nadeem Arshad announced the verdict in their favour.
Meanwhile Appellate Tribunals constituted to dispose of the appeals filed against acceptance or rejection of nomination papers for the general elections will continue to decide on appeals till Wednesday. These tribunals are being headed by judges of the High Courts.
According to election schedule, the preliminary list of candidates will be displayed on Thursday and candidates can withdraw their nomination papers till Friday.
The electoral symbols will be allotted on the 13th of this month while polling for general elections will be held on 8th of next month.
Meanwhile Returning Officers in line with the directives of the Election Commission of Pakistan have published the constituency-wise preliminary lists of polling stations. Candidates and voters have the opportunity to submit their suggestions or objections regarding polling stations to the District Returning Officers until Thursday.
DROs are set to declare their decisions on these objections or suggestions from 12th to 17th of this month. Final list of polling stations will be revealed 15 days before the elections.