ISLAMABAD, Jan 21: The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed ten more politicians who were defeated in the October elections to contest the Senate polls.

The SC, which initially allowed two petitioners to contest the Senate elections, is flooded with petitions by defeated politicians, seeking permission to contest the Senate polls. Aside from these 10 petitions, three more were filed on Tuesday, which would be taken up later on.

The SC bench, comprising Acting Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, and Justice Sardar Muhammad Khan, allowed ten petitioners to contest the Senate elections.

Those permitted on Tuesday to run for the Senate are: Asfandyar Wali Khan, Syed Muhammad Fazal Agha, Chaudhry Abdul Ghafoor, Rana Tanvir Hussain, Malik Umar Aslam, Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, Mir Shah Khetran, Mian Abdul Waheed, Mushtari Begum, and Habib Jalib Baloch.

The petitioners had prayed for an interim relief to participate in the forthcoming Senate elections because they were disqualified from being elected Senator under Article 8AA of the Conduct of General Elections Order, 2002.

It was contended by the petitioners’ counsel that a larger bench, consisting of five judges, had already granted interim relief to two petitioners.

Attorney General Makhdoom Ali Khan on Tuesday held that the petitions were not competent because the petitioners had not shown their locus standi to invoke the jurisdiction of the apex court under Article 184(3) because, in individual capacity, they could not challenge the vires of a statute before this court.

The court, after hearing the petitioners’ counsel and the Attorney General, allowed the petitioners to file their nomination papers to participate in the Senate election, subject to a final decision of their Constitutional petitions.

The nomination papers of the candidates, if accepted otherwise, would not be rejected on the grounds that he/she had lost the October elections.