LAHORE: Imprisoned PTI founding chairman Imran Khan on Friday filed two separate petitions in the Lahore High Court challenging the decisions of the returning officers (ROs) and the appellate tribunals of rejecting his nomination papers from NA-122, Lahore, and NA-89, Mianwali.

Initially, the registrar office did not entertain the petitions for not furnishing attested copies of the necessary documents.

Later, the legal team of the former prime minister filed the petitions again after removing the objections.

A three-judge full bench headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi will hear the petitions on Saturday (today).

The petitions asked the high court to set aside the decisions of the returning officers and the appellate tribunals of rejecting the nomination papers from the both constituencies of the National Assembly.

Khan’s nomination papers were rejected primarily on the grounds of being convicted in the Toshakhana case. His nomination papers from NA-122 were also dismissed on the grounds of the proposer not being a voter of the constituency.

The appellate tribunals also upheld the decisions of the respective ROs with an observation that the conviction and sentence were two different terms as conviction pertained to the guilty verdict and sentence stands for the rigours following conviction.

The tribunals noted that the 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.

A tribunal observed that the decision of the ECP regarding disqualification of the petitioner was still in the field and had not been set aside from the competent forum.

On the point of the proposer not being the voter of the constituency, the tribunal said the revised delimitation report was issued by the ECP prior to the submission of nomination papers. It observed that nobody including the appellant and his proposer challenged the revised final delimitation report.

The observation of the RO that the appellant had not been proposed by a valid voter member of NA-122 as a contesting candidate from the constituency was a valid ground for rejection of his nomination papers, the tribunal held.

NAWAZ: A petition has been filed against the acceptance of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s nomination papers from NA-130, Lahore.

Pakistan Awami Mahaz chief Advocate Ishtiaq Ahmad Chaudhry filed the petition after the dismissal of his appeal by an appellate tribunal.

The petitioner pleaded that Mr Sharif was not eligible to contest the election due to a 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 being not righteous and sagacious (sadiq and ameen) under article 62(1)(f).

The petitioner asked the court to set aside the decisions of the RO and the appellate tribunal regarding acceptance of the nomination papers of the respondent from NA-130.

A full bench of the high court is likely to take up the petition on Saturday (today).

Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2024