LAHORE: An appellate tribunal on Monday reserved its verdict on an appeal against the acceptance of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif’s nomination papers from NA-130, Lahore.

Pakistan Awami Mahaz chief Ishtiaq Ahmad Chaudhry, a lawyer, filed the appeal under section 63 of the Election Act 2017.

The appellant argued that Mr Sharif 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).

The appellant urged the tribunal to set aside the decision of the returning officer regarding rejection of his candidature and acceptance of the nomination papers of the respondent from NA-130.

Meanwhile, an appellate tribunal allowed an appeal of former governor Mian Azhar and accepted his nomination papers from NA-129, Lahore.

The RO had rejected the nomination papers of Mr Azhar.

The tribunal also allowed an appeal of Ammar Ali Jan of Haqooq-i-Khalq Party and set aside the decision of NA-160, Lahore RO regarding rejection of his nomination papers.

An appellate tribunal dismissed an appeal of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) ticket aspirant Abad Farooq and upheld the RO’s decision of rejecting his nomination papers from PP-150.

The RO rejected the nomination papers of the appellant on the basis of not disclosing a vehicle owned by him in the papers.

An appellate tribunal allowed an appeal of Sardar Haroon Ahmad Ali and accepted his nomination papers from NA-133, Kasur.

A tribunal set aside a decision of the RO of NA-108, Faisalabad and accepted the nomination papers of PTI ticker aspirant Sahibzada Mahboob Sultan.

Another tribunal reserved its verdict on an appeal filed against rejection of nomination papers of Muhammad Ahmad Chattah and Fayaz Ahmad Chattah from NA-66 and PP-36 (Wazirabad), respectively.

The RO had dismissed their nomination papers for both being defaulters of financial institutions and declared proclaimed offenders in criminal cases.

CORRECTION: An appeal of jailed PTI social media activist Sanam Javed against rejection of her nomination papers from NA-119 and PP-150 of Lahore was not dismissed by an appellate tribunal of Justice Rasaal Hassan Syed, but by a tribunal comprising Justice Tariq Nadeem.

The tribunal of Justice Syed had initially issued notices on the appeal of Ms Javed, but it stood transferred to a newly-formed tribunal comprising Justice Nadeem, which held the hearing and dismissed the plea on Jan 7.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2024