Tribunal U-turn puts Fawad’s election bid in peril

In a rare move, an Election Tribunal in Rawalpindi recalled its decision of approving the nomination papers of former minister Fawad Chaudhry, while rejecting the nomination paper of his wife Hiba Chaudhry for not declaring assets.

The appellate tribunals in Punjab rejected the appeal of senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi, and threw out the objections raised to the acceptance of the nomination papers of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Maryam Nawaz.

In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), meanwhile, several PTI heavyweights won the appeals against the rejection of their nomination papers by the returning officers (ROs) concerned during the scrutiny process that concluded last weekend.

The tribunals, led by high court judges, continued the hearing of the appeal on the fourth day.

In Rawalpindi, the judges opened the courts on Saturday, a holiday, for the hearing of 51 appeals.

Appeals would also be heard on Sunday (today), another holiday, and conclude on Jan 10.

A total of 51 appeals were scheduled for hearing at the election tribunals, of which 32 appeals were accepted and 10 rejected, while proceedings were adjourned on the remaining appeals, according to lawyers representing the candidates.

During the hearing of appeal against the rejection of nomination papers of Hiba, wife of former federal minister Fawad, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) submitted a report, informing the tribunal that she owned nine bank accounts but four of them had not been declared.

Also the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) presented separate data of Hiba’s foreign travels. The report said that she made five long tours abroad but revealed only three foreign trips in her nomination papers.

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On that the tribunal judge, Justice Chaudhary Abdul Aziz, disqualified Hiba from contesting the elections for concealing her assets.

The judge stated that her husband, Fawad, was also obliged to disclose these assets and foreign trips as per the Elections Act and rules.

The judge, while recalling the previous day’s decision of approving Fawad’s papers, said why he should not be disqualified for hiding his wife’s assets and expenses.

The judge then fixed re-hearing of Fawad’s appeal on Jan 9.

On other appeals, Justice Rauf approved the nomination papers of former PTI Punjab deputy speaker Wasiq Qayyum Abbasi; Murtaza Sati; Tariq Murtaza; Seemabia Tahir, Raja Rashid Hafeez, Fauzia Bahram and others.

The tribunal also rejected the objections of the returning officer against former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and approved his nomination papers.

The hearing of the appeal of the wife of former Punjab chief minister Elahi was postponed till Jan 8.

The appellate tribunal in Multan declared Qureshi ineligible to contest the Feb 8 elections, but approved the nomination papers of his children, Zain and Mehrbano Qureshi.

On Friday, a tribunal in Karachi had approved Qureshi’s papers for NA-214 Umerkot in Sindh.

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The tribunal also approved the papers of Nazia Dasti, wife of PTI’s Jamshed Dasti, and Jamshed’s nephew Samad Dasti.

Appeals of PTI’s Malik Niaz Ahmed Jhakhar and Malik Owais Haider Jhakhar from Layyah, and Zartaj Gul and her husband, Humayun Khan, from Dera Ghazi Khan, were also accepted.

Meanwhile, the appellate tribunal in Lahore upheld the RO’s decision of accepting nomination papers of PML-N’s Maryam for PP-80 and rejected the plea against her.

The challenger had raised objection that Maryam had been convicted and she was not “Sadiq and Ameen”.

The tribunal judge also adjourned proceedings till Sunday (today), giving one last opportunity to the challenger to present arguments on the objections raised to the acceptance of the papers of PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif for NA-130 and President Shehbaz Sharif for NA-132.

Meanwhile, the tribunals sought replies from the ROs on the appeals filed against the rejection of the nomination of PTI founder Imran Khan and other party leaders, including Hammad Azhar, Yasmeen Rashid, Aslam Iqbal, Sanam Javed and others.

The appellate tribunals in Peshawar accepted the appeals of former K-P finance minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra, former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser, former National Assembly member Sher Ali Arbab, PTI Hangu President Yusuf Khan and others.

In Sindh, the tribunal dismissed the appeals of PTI’s Subhan Sahil, Amjad Afridi, Hasnain Chauhan and Makhdoom Fazal, while accepted the appeals of Rauf Ahmed, Rafia Hasan, Jamaluddin, Deedar Ali and Fiza Zeeshan.

(WITH INPUT FROM OUR PESHAWAR CORRESPONDENT)