Imran’s election dreams crushed

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday dashed the hopes of former prime minister Imran Khan to contest the upcoming general elections as it upheld an election tribunal’s decision to reject his nomination papers for two National Assembly constituencies.

A couple of returning officers (ROs) on December 30 rejected the PTI founder’s nomination papers for NA-122 Lahore and NA-89 Mianwali constituencies for various reasons, including his conviction in a gift-repository case and the fact that his "proposer" and "seconder" at the former constituency did not belong to that constituency, NA-122.

Imran had challenged the RO’s decision at an election tribunal which upheld the RO’s decision on January 10. The former premier, currently detained at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, facing a slew of cases, later approached the LHC.

A three-member larger bench of the LHC, led by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi, reserved its verdict on his writ petition after hearing the arguments on Tuesday. The bench unveiled its order on Wednesday, dismissing the former premier’s petition.

During proceedings, Imran’s counsel argued that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) did not have the authority to disqualify a lawmaker. He stated that the matter of the former premier's disqualification after his conviction was now pending in the Supreme Court.

After his conviction in the gift repository case in August last year, the ECP had announced disqualifying the former premier for five years.

Also read: LHC reserves decision on Imran’s ECP disqualification

Responding to the objection that Imran’s proposer and seconder were not residents of the NA-122 constituency, the lawyer stated that they belonged to the constituency but their names went missing after new delimitation. He highlighted that there was no gazette notification for the fresh delimitation.

The ECP representative argued that a person who does not meet the criteria as described in Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution cannot contest elections. It is mandatory for a prime minister to be truthful and trustworthy, the lawyer argued.

Article 62 and 63 of the Constitution describe the qualifications of a lawmaker.

Under Article 62(1)(f), a person cannot be qualified as a member of the national or provincial legislatures if he is not “Sadiq and Ameen” – truthful and trustworthy. Some provisions of Article 62 of the Constitution were inserted into the Constitution by military dictator General Ziaul Haq.

Interestingly, the same bench also rejected the appeals filed by PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, PTI President Parvez Elahi, and activist Sanam Javed, upholding the election tribunal's verdicts.

Qureshi had submitted nomination papers for NA-150, NA-151, and PP-218 constituencies, while Elahi had submitted his nomination papers in NA-59, NA-64, NA-69, and PP-23, PP-34, PP-32, and PP-42 constituencies. Both Qureshi and Elahi are also detained at Adiala Jail.

However, the bench dismissed petitions challenging the acceptance of the nomination papers of PTI’s leaders Mian Mehmood-ur-Rasheed, Rihana Dar, Qaisara Elahi, and others. The bench allowed these leaders to contest the February 8 elections.