Rejection of Imran’s nomination papers for NA-122 upheld
An appellate tribunal of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday upheld the returning officer’s (RO) decision to reject PTI founder Imran Khan’s nomination papers for NA-122.
Justice Tariq Nadeem upheld the RO’s decision to reject Imran’s nomination papers.
The development comes on the last day to dispose of appeals filed against acceptance or rejection of nomination papers for the February 8 general elections.
According to election schedule, the preliminary list of candidates will be displayed tomorrow and candidates can withdraw their nomination papers till Friday, Radio Pakistan reports.
On December 30, Imran’s nomination papers were rejected from NA-122 (Lahore) and NA-89 (Mianwali). The verdict issued by the RO for NA-122 had stated that the papers were rejected on “moral” and other grounds.
In the detailed decision, the election officer quoted the judgement of the additional session judge (Islamabad) that established the conviction of the respondent related to the offence of moral turpitude.
Imran’s candidature was hit by Article 62, Article 63 (1h) of the Constitution of Pakistan, the RO said, adding that the conviction had not been suspended or set aside by any court to date.
Last week, Imran had challenged in the election tribunals the rejection of his nomination papers for both the National Assembly seats.
The appeal against the rejection of candidature for NA-122 contended that the RO had dismissed the nomination papers unlawfully and against the facts. Filed through Advocate Uzair Bhandari, the appeal contended that the RO had dismissed the nomination papers of the appellant unlawfully and against the facts.
It should be noted that an appellate tribunal of the LHC Pindi bench has reserved its verdict on Imran’s appeal against the rejection of his candidature from NA-89. The verdict is expected later today.
Separately, PTI leader Yasmin Rashid was cleared to contest the February 8 general elections from NA-130 as Judge Nadeem dismissed the RO’s decision to reject her nomination papers.
Additional input from Tahir Naseer