Elahi out of election fray as appeal dismissed

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Saturday dismissed an appeal by PTI President Chaudhry Parvez Elahi against an earlier rejection of his papers by the returning officer, resulting in his exclusion from the upcoming general elections.

The court, however, granted permission to his wife, Qaisara Elahi, to contest the polls.

An LHC bench led by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi heard the appeals of Elahi, Qaisara, and their son Moonis Elahi against the rejection of their nomination papers.

Elahi's lawyer, Shahzad Shoukat, maintained that his client had been accused of hiding the facts in the nomination papers.

"The accusations include not mentioning a licence for seven weapons and the absence of a mention of a special account in the nomination papers."

The lawyer emphasized, "According to the law, everything is stated in the papers, and an attempt has been made to snatch the nomination papers.”

He stated that Elahi was a senior politician and should be allowed to contest the elections.

"They arrested their appointed representative when he went to submit the nomination papers," the lawyer said while responding to queries from Justice Najafi.

Justice Najafi questioned if it "is the responsibility of the ECP to issue timely orders? Did you file any complaint with the ECP?"

The lawyer said, "We approached the court, and after the court orders, we were allowed to go to the RO office."
Subsequently, the court announced its verdict and rejected Elahi's appeal.

Previously, the LHC directed the regional police officer of Gujranwala, along with the district police officers of Gujrat and Mandi Bahauddin, to adhere strictly to legal protocols, emphasising that they must not impede Qaisara from submitting nomination papers for the elections before the relevant officers.

Qaisara contended that she, her husband Elahi, and son Moonis intended to contest the forthcoming general elections scheduled for Feb 8.

To facilitate the submission of their nomination papers, authorised individuals were appointed to represent them before the ROs of the respective constituencies.

However, Qaisara claimed that the authorised individuals were facing obstruction from the Punjab police, including illegal abduction.

Meanwhile, a three-member LHC bench, headed by Justice Najafi, was expected to announce the reserved decisions on writ petitions filed by PTI's Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Sanam Javed, and others against the verdicts of the appellate election tribunals on Sunday (today).

The PTI's contestants had challenged decisions of the ROs before the election appellate tribunals. Later, they had challenged the tribunals’ verdicts through writ petitions before the LHC