LAHORE, Sept 5: An election tribunal on Thursday allowed Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf leader Imran Khan to contest elections from NA-71.

Another election tribunal rejected the appeals filed against the candidature of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif. The tribunal comprising Justices Najamuz Zaman and Pervez Ahmad ruled that the objections raised against the Sharifs for their alleged involvement in an attack on the Supreme Court in November, 1997, were unfounded and baseless.

“We are afraid the contentions raised by the appellant have no force since the respondents were never convicted in the SC assault case nor were they placed as accused in that case,” observed the tribunal while rejecting the appeal. It further observed that the appellant had failed to show any material suggesting that the Sharif brothers were involved in the assault.

Appeals against the acceptance of the candidature of PML-N leaders Khwaja Saad Rafiq and Dr Asad Ashraf were also dismissed by the tribunal for being without any substance.

The tribunal comprising Justices Tassadaq Husain Jillani and Shakoor Ahmad allowed PTI chairman Imran Khan to contest elections from NA-71 after he produced his BA degree issued by the Oxford University.

Imran’s counsel contended before the court that the University Grant Commission had confirmed to Imran through a letter that the degree earned by him from the Oxford University was equivalent to graduation in Pakistan, and that it was also recognized by the UGC. The court after examining the degree set aside the decision of the RO and allowed him to contest the polls.

PPP leader Faisal Saleh Hayat (NA-88) and former petroleum minister Chaudhry Nisar (NA-53) filed appeals on Thursday against the decisions of the RO. The two appeals along with 50 newly-filed appeals will be taken up by election tribunals on Friday.

Proceedings on an appeal filed by PML-QA leader Akhtar Rasool against the rejection of his nomination papers were deferred till Sept 11.

Proceedings on an appeal filed against the acceptance of the papers of PAT chief Dr Tahirul Qadri were also adjourned till Sept 11.

The papers of Waqas Akram, a candidate for NA-89, had been rejected by the RO on the grounds that he was underage. He pleaded in his appeal that his date of birth mentioned in his ID card was June 28, 1977, while in the record of the Multan Municipal Committee it was Aug 28, 1974, which was the authentic information. He took the plea that the papers of rival candidate Tahirul Qadri had been accepted despite a four-year discrepancy in his date of birth given in his ID card and the relevant MC record.

Appeals of Qari Muhammad Saddiq, Maulana Muhammad Ghiasuddin, Allama Zubair, Syed Abdul Basit Gilani, Syed Shabbir Husain Gill and Maulana Din Muhammad were allowed after they produced their degrees awarded to them by the Tanzeemul Madaris Ahle Sunnat before the court.

The appeal of Ahmad Bhatti seeking relief against the order of the RO for PP-27 was dismissed. The tribunal observed that there was enough evidence on record to suggest that he had been convicted on charges of organizing an assault on the Bahawalpur Bench some three years back.