LAHORE: An appellate tribunal of the Lahore High Court on Friday accepted the nomination papers of jailed PTI social media activist Sanam Javed for senate but upheld a decision of the ECP about rejection of nomination papers of Zulfi Bukhari, a former adviser to the prime minister.

The ECP had rejected the papers of the woman activist on the basis of not being attested by the jail authorities and non-submission of assets and liabilities of her husband.

In his decision, Tribunal Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan observed that the appellant cannot be punished for a fault committed by the jail superintendent.

The tribunal said the fault of attestation was not on the part of the appellant rather the same was due to mala fide act of the jail authorities, especially the superintendent of Central Jail, Kot Lakhpat, who knowingly left the lacuna so the appellant should face hurdle in acceptance of her nomination papers.

Zulfi’s plea rejected

About the other objection, the judge said the appellant narrated similar facts as to assets and liabilities of her husband in the nomination papers filed for the general election held last month and the same were accepted by the ECP.

The tribunal accepted the nomination papers of the activist for senate election against a reserved seat for women from Punjab and directed the returning officer to include her name in the list of contesting candidates.

Ms Javed is behind the bars for her alleged involvement in the May 9 riots.

ZULFI BUKHARI: The appellate tribunal dismissed an appeal of Zulfi Bukhari against rejection of his nomination papers for the senate election.

A written order by the tribunal is yet to be issued.

During the hearing of the appeal, Bukhari’s counsel stated that the ECP rejected the nomination papers of the petitioner on the ground of being a dual national.

However, he said, the petitioner was a Pakistani citizen only. He said the petitioner furnished documentary evidence to the ECP about relinquishing dual nationality of the United Kingdom.

The ECP lawyer objected to the maintainability of the appeal and pointed out that the supporting documents should have been attached with the nomination papers.

In response, Bukhari’s counsel argued that the document of renunciation of UK citizenship was attached with the nomination papers.

He asked the tribunal to set aside the ECP decision for being against the facts and law.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2024