• Full court dismisses challenge to Nawaz’s nomination
• Decision on Imran’s papers for Lahore, Mianwali seats expected today

LAHORE: A full bench of the Lahore High Court on Saturday reserved decisions on the petitions of PTI leadership Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Parvez Elahi as well as former minister Fawad Chaudhry and others against the rejection of their nomination papers for the Feb 8 election.

Headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi, the three-judge bench allowed an appeal of Qaisera Elahi, the wife of Mr Elahi, gave a ruling in favour of the acceptance of her nomination papers for the four national and provincial assembly seats of NA-64, NA-69, PP-32 and PP-32 of Gujrat.

The bench, which also comprised Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan and Justice Jawad Hassan, dismissed an appeal of ex-minister Moonis Elahi against the rejection of his nomination papers from the same constituencies besides PP-34.

The court reserved its verdict on Mr Elahi’s challenge to the rejection of his nomination papers from seven national and provincial constituencies including NA-59, NA-64, NA-69, PP-23, PP-42, PP-32 and PP-34.

Also, the court reserved its decision on the petition of Mr Qureshi against the rejection of his nomination papers from NA-150, NA-151 and PP-218 constituencies of Multan, though it dismissed appeals against the acceptance of nomination papers of his son Zain Qureshi and daughter Mehar Bano Qureshi from NA-150 and PP-218.

Imran papers for Mianwali, Lahore

The LHC bench will take up on Sunday (today) the petitions of imprisoned PTI founding chairman Imran Khan challenging the rejection of his nomination papers from Mianwali and Lahore constituencies of the National Assembly (NA-89 and NA-122).

Also on Sunday, the court is expected to decide the petitions of Fawad Chaudhry, Hammad Azhar and PTI social media activist Sanam Javed against the dismissal of their appeals by the appellate tribunals.

Nawaz Sharif

On the other hand, the LHC on Saturday dismissed a petition challenging the acceptance of former premier Nawaz Sharif’s nomination papers from NA-130 constituency of Lahore.

Pakistan Awami Mahaz chief Advocate Ishtiaq Ahmad Chaudhry had 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 Mr Sharif was disqualified for being not righteous and sagacious.

However, when the bench observed that the Supreme Court had recently annulled the lifetime disqualification, the lawyer argued that the decision of the apex court came only after the submission of the nomination papers by Mr Sharif.

Therefore, he added, Mr Sharif could not benefit from the SC decision in a retrospective manner. The bench dismissed the petition and upheld the decisions of the RO and the appellate tribunal in favour of Mr Sharif.

The bench then also accepted a petition of Advocate Chaudhry to allow him to contest from NA-130.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2024