Election candidature: Nawaz’s hurdles clear, Imran faces rejection

As the February 8 general elections inch closer, PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif cleared another hurdle on Wednesday after objection to his candidature from NA-130 (Lahore) was dismissed while incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan’s appeals against the rejection of his nomination papers from two National Assembly seats was upheld.

The development comes on the last day to dispose of appeals filed against acceptance or rejection of nomination papers for the upcoming polls.

According to the election schedule, the preliminary list of candidates will be displayed tomorrow and candidates can withdraw their nomination papers till Friday, Radio Pakistan reported. Electoral symbols would be allotted on Saturday, it said.

Today, an appellate tribunal, while announcing its verdict reserved a day earlier, rejected appeals against the acceptance of Nawaz’s nomination papers from NA-130, Lahore.

Pakistan Awami Mahaz chief Ishtiaq Ahmad Chaudhry, a lawyer, had filed the appeal under section 63 of the Election Act 2017, arguing that the PML-N supremo could not contest polls due to lifetime disqualification held by the Supreme Court for a person disqualified under article 62 (1) (f) of the Constitution.

However, now that the apex court has ended lifetime disqualification for lawmakers, Appellate Tribunal Judge Ahmad Nadeem Arshad turned down the plea.

Similarly, an appeal filed against the acceptance of nomination papers filed by Nawaz’s daughter Maryam for NA-119 (Lahore) was also rejected. Appellant Nadeem Altaf Khan had challenged the acceptance of Maryam’s candidature, accusing her of not disclosing complete details of her properties.

On Tuesday, the election appellate tribunal in Abbottabad had set aside PTI’s objections raised on Nawaz’s eligibility to contest elections from NA-15. The tribunal judge, Justice Kamran Hayat Miankhel, cleared the PML-N supreme leader for polls after hearing arguments.

Imran faces rejection

On the other hand, former premier Imran’s appeals against the rejection of his nomination papers for two seats, NA-122 (Lahore) and NA-89 (Mianwali), were dismissed. Two separate appellate tribunals upheld the returning officers’ (RO) decision to reject Imran nomination papers.

According to the verdict issued by the appellate tribunal for NA-89 (Mianwali) — a copy of which is available with Dawn.com — nomination papers submitted by Imran “met the fate of rejection through the impugned order passed by the returning officer during the process of scrutiny carried out in terms of Section 62 of the Elections Act 2017”.

Authored by Appellate Tribunal Judge Chaudhry Abdul Aziz, the order said the rejection of the nomination paper was “mainly structured upon the ground that since the appellant stands convicted in a case with sentence of three years, thus is disqualified under Article 63(10) of the Constitution for becoming a member of parliament”.

“This tribunal is created under Section 63(1) of the Elections Act, 2017 having powers limited only to examine the legality of orders passed by the returning officers under Section 62.”

“Section 63 of the Elections Act, 2017 places a clog upon this tribunal to decide only the legality of the finding given by the returning officer regarding the rejection or acceptance of nomination papers,” it added.

The order pointed out that the judgment of the conviction [against Imran] was passed by a court beyond the territorial and legal limits of the tribunal. It further noted that the nomination papers of Imran were “rightly rejected” by the RO of NA-89. “As a necessary consequence, the instant election appeal stands dismissed,” the tribunal added.

On December 30, Imran’s nomination papers for both the NA seats were rejected. The verdict issued by the RO for NA-122 stated that the papers were rejected on “moral” and other grounds.

Last week, Imran had challenged the rejection. 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.

The appeal pertaining to NA-89 said that the RO had rejected nomination papers of the appellant after objectors Khuram Hameed Khan and Khalilur Rehman Khan pointed out his conviction in the Toshakhana gifts case and an outstanding amount of Rs3.68 million he had to pay to the Social Security Department him for being chairman of Namal University. It said the department had never issued a notice to the university in this regard.

On January 7, an appellate tribunal of the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) Pindi bench reserved its verdict on Imran’s appeal against the rejection of his candidature from NA-89 after hearing arguments from the PTI founder’s lawyer and the Election Commission of Pakistan. Today, Justice Chaudhry Abdul Aziz announced the reserved verdict, upholding the RO’s decision.

Separately, an appellate tribunal of the LHC rejected Imran’s appeal pertaining to NA-122 as Justice Tariq Nadeem upheld the RO’s decision to reject Imran’s nomination papers.

Meanwhile, 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.