RAWALPINDI / LAHORE: The appellate tribunals of the Lahore High Court on Wednesday dismissed the appeals of imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan, who had challenged the rejection of his nomination papers from two National Assembly constituencies — NA-89 in Mianwali and NA-122 in Lahore.

The returning officers (RO) of both constituencies had rejected Mr Khan’s nomination papers mainly on the grounds of being convicted in the Toshakhana case. The officer for NA-122 also ruled that Mr Khan’s proposer was not a voter of the constituency.

The appeal regarding Lahore’s constituency was heard by the tribunal of Justice Tariq Nadeem at the principal seat, while a tribunal of Justice Chaudhry Abdul Aziz decided the appeal about Mianwali’s constituency at the Rawalpindi bench.

“I have no scintilla of reluctance to hold that the returning officer was legally competent to examine the candidature of Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi (appellant) while subjecting his nomination papers to scrutiny on the touchstone of Section 62 of the Elections Act, 2017,” Justice Aziz observed in his written verdict.

The tribunal rejected an argument by Mr Khan’s counsel that the appellant’s conviction could not be considered after the suspension of his sentence. The judge observed that conviction and sentence were two different terms as conviction pertained to the guilty verdict and sentence stands for the rigours following conviction.

He emphasised that conviction meant a guilty verdict pronounced by a court in reference to the delinquency attributed to an accused, whereas the sentence denoted the quantum of punishment.

According to Justice Aziz, Mr Khan’s counsel had filed the petition seeking the suspension of his client’s sentence under section 426 of the CrPC; therefore, his conviction was intact even though the sentence was suspended.

The judge dismissed the appeal and observed that the RO of NA-89 rightly rejected Mr Khan’s nomination papers. The tribunal at the principal seat in Lahore did not immediately issue a written verdict. A lawyer for the PTI founding chairman argued that the Toshakhana case conviction was not a hurdle in his way to contest the upcoming general election.

He said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was not a court and the conviction in the Toshakhana case did not amount to disqualification under Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution.

He said the sentence of the appellant had already been suspended by the Islamabad High Court. To the objection of the proposer and seconder of the appellant not belonging to the same constituency, the counsel said the ECP changed delimitation after issuance of the election schedule.

Published in Dawn, January 11th, 2024