In a dramatic prelude to the February 8 elections, PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday hurdled past objections to his candidacy from NA-130 while incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan faced the sting of rejection on appeals against the dismissal of his nomination papers for two National Assembly seats.
The appellate election tribunals delivered what came as a “double-edged verdict”, granting a clean chit to the Sharif family, including Nawaz Sharif, while quashing appeals by the former premier Imran Khan, former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, along with his wife and son, Moonis Elahi, against the rejection of their nomination papers.
Two separate appellate tribunals upheld the ROs' decision to reject Imran nomination papers.
The PTI’s founding chairman faced the stumbling block – potentially ousted from the electoral battleground – just as the party celebrated the return of its cherished ‘Bat’ symbol.
Meanwhile, the election tribunals also gave the green light to PTI’s Dr Yasmeen Rashid from NA-130, Mian Mehmood ur Rasheed from PP-169 and various other contestants from distinct constituencies by overturning the Returning Officers' decisions that previously rejected their nomination papers.
The election tribunals, in dismissing appeals, affirmed the decision of the ROs to accept the nomination papers of Nawaz Sharif from NA-130, Shehbaz Sharif from NA-132, and Maryam Nawaz from NA-119.
The appellants had contested the ROs' acceptance of their nomination papers.
The tribunals upheld the decisions of the ROs, dismissing appeals lodged by PTI's founding chairman Imran Khan from NA-122, as well as the appeals of PTI's former chief minister Ch. Pervez Elahi, his wife Qaisara Elahi, and their son Moonis Elahi from NA-64, NA-69, PP-32, and PP-34.
The twelve-judge election tribunals of the Lahore High Court (LHC) presided over appeals filed by contestants challenging the acceptance or rejection of their nomination papers by the respective ROs. January 10 marked the final day for appeal hearings.
To address challenges against the election tribunals' decisions, the LHC had initially formed a larger bench comprising five members, including Justice Shujaat Ali Khan, Justice Ali Baqar Najafi, Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan, Justice Faisal Zaman, and Justice Jawad Hassan.
However, Justice Faisal Zaman withdrew from the bench, and Justice Shujaat Ali Khan was on medical leave during this period.
Following this, LHC CJ Muhammad Ameer Bhatti established a larger three-member bench comprising Justice Ali Baqar Najafi, Justice Shahd Bilal, and Justice Jawad Hassan.
Sharif family
An appellate tribunal on Monday had reserved its verdict on an appeal against the acceptance of Nawaz Sharif’s nomination papers from NA-130, Lahore.
Read Tribunal gives clean chit to Sharif family to contest polls
Pakistan Awami Mahaz chief Ishtiaq Ahmad Chaudhry, a lawyer, filed the appeal under section 63 of the Election Act 2017.
The appellant argued that Nawaz could not contest an election due to lifetime disqualification held by the Supreme Court for a person disqualified under Article 62 (1) (f) of the Constitution.
He said the former prime minister was disqualified by the apex court for not being ‘sadiq’ and ‘ameen’ under article 62(1)(f).
In the case of former prime minister and PML-N president, the appellant had challenged RO’s decision of accepting his nomination papers, alleging “he had been identified as the mastermind of alleged criminal attack on the supreme court on November 28, 1997”.
Similarly, the appellant had challenged RO’s decision to accept the nomination papers of PML-N’s Maryam Nawaz on the grounds that she is not ‘sadiq’ and ‘ameen’.
The petitioner objector contended that ROs’ decision to accept her nomination papers from NA-119 was illegal and unlawful.
He cited various TV talk shows where Maryam Nawaz, during a live news segment with anchorperson Sana Bucha, publicly stated that she "doesn't have any property in London or even in Pakistan."
However, in a separate statement to anchorperson Sohail Warraich, she declared that she "owned assets worth about 100 crores." In addition, in an interview with anchorperson Javed Ch, Maryam
Nawaz's brother asserted that she is the beneficiary of his property in London.
He stressed that Maryam Nawaz has faced convictions in different cases, including the Panama case. Despite her declaration in the nomination papers stating no ownership of property outside Pakistan, her brother had previously claimed that she is a beneficiary of property in London.
He further pointed out that in the 2023 nomination papers, Maryam Nawaz had listed four individuals (Muhammad Safdar, Meheru Nisa Safdar, Muhammad Junaid Safdar, and Mah Noor Safdar) as dependents in her affidavits. However, in 2024, she omitted mentioning her children in the affidavit.
Referring to Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan 1973, which disqualifies individuals not meeting the criteria of being sadiq and ameen from contesting the 2024 elections, he requested the admission of his appeal and the rejection of the nomination papers.
Imran Khan
Meanwhile, an appellate election tribunal dismissed PTI's founding chairman Imran Khan's appeal against the RO's decision to reject his nomination papers from NA-122.
The tribunal upheld the RO's ruling, which cited Imran's disqualification under Article 63 (1)(h) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, along with section 232 of the Election Act 2017, due to "the candidate being convicted by a court of law."
Furthermore, the RO considered another ground for rejection, stating that "the proposer of the candidate is not a registered voter in constituency NA-122, as per section 60(1) of the Election Act 2017."
As for the Pervez Elahi and Moonis Elahi, the concerned appellate election tribunal while announcing a reserved decision dismissed appeals of the PTI’s former chief minister and his son against the orders of ROs wherein their nomination papers were rejected from constituencies NA-64, NA-69 and PP-32 and PP-34.
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