PESHAWAR: A voter has challenged before an election appellate tribunal the acceptance of nomination papers of former prime minister and chief of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Imran Khan and has sought his disqualification from contesting the by-polls on a National Assembly seat in Mardan.

The election appeal was filed by Ali Haider, a resident of Mardan. He requested the appellate tribunal consisting of Justice Ijaz Anwar of Peshawar High Court to set aside the returning officer’s order of accepting Mr Khan’s nomination papers and declare that he was not qualified to become a member of National Assembly.

The appellant has cited multiple grounds in support of his appeal claiming that Mr Khan concealed information about retaining gifts from Toshakhana and some other assets in his annual income tax returns; received prohibited funds in the name of his party; did not disclose details about a trust “Al-Qadir University Project Trust” of which he and his spouse were the trustees.

The appeal, filed through senior lawyer Naveed Akhter, mentioned that the appellant filed an objection petition before the returning officer but he turned down the same on August 17.

Mardan voter says ex-PM concealed information about retaining gifts from Toshakhana

Under the schedule announced by Election Commission of Pakistan, the appellate tribunal will decide appeals against acceptance and rejection of nomination papers by August 25.

The appellant contended that perusal of income tax returns of Imran Khan for the financial year 2018-19 and 2019-20 revealed that he concealed the valuable assets acquired from Toshakhana during the period 2018 to 2020.

He alleged that the candidate with mala-fide intentions concealed from the public eye, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and ECP those gifts, which he discretely acquired after entering the office of prime minister.

The appellant provided information of certain gifts retained by the former prime minister, stating that the candidate and his spouse procured 52 items in the form of gifts from August 2018 to December 2021. He alleged that the total assessed value of the valuable assets was Rs142.042 million whereas the candidate paid only Rs38.977 million and retained the gifts but never disclosed those gifts.

He stated that the candidate also concealed the fact that ECP concluded in a case “Akbar Sher Babar versus PTI” that prohibited funds were received by the candidate and law was being set on motion for confiscation of the said funds.

Moreover, he added that Mr Khan also concealed that a reference had already been sent to ECP by the NA speaker under Article 63 (2) of the Constitution for initiation of disqualification proceedings against him.

He contended that the respondent did not disclose as to why and for what material contribution he was contesting the by-elections from NA-22 and eight other constituencies despite of the fact that he had already been receiving salary as an MNA.

About “Al-Qadir University Project Trust”, the appellant stated that the trust was created on December 26, 2019, and Mr Khan and his spouse were its only trustees. He alleged that there was an unholy nexus between Mr Khan and a property tycoon in relation to the properties of the said trust.

He said that the candidate did not provide details of properties, assets and bank accounts of the said trust in his nomination papers.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2022