KARACHI: Beleaguered General (retd) Pervez Musharraf had another blow on Thursday when a three-member appellate bench of the Sindh High Court (SHC) threw out his appeal against the rejection of his candidature for a National Assembly seat in Karachi.

The larger bench, headed by Justice Maqbool Baqar that disposed of in all 15 election pleas, dismissed his petition and ordered that the reasons for the dismissal would be recorded later.

The nomination papers of the former military ruler for NA-250 were rejected by the concerned returning officer on the grounds that he suspended the constitution and detained the judges, and he was liable to be tried.

Musharraf filed an election appeal in the election tribunal against the decision of the returning officer, submitting that he was presumed to be innocent till he was proven guilty by any court of law and that there was no question of his being proven guilty as he was not tried in any court of law.

The election tribunal, however, rejected his election appeal and upheld the rejection of his nomination papers by the returning officer.

He moved the SHC appellate bench through a constitution petition against the judgment of the election tribunal.

Moreover, Musharraf had escaped from the premises of the Islamabad High Court after the cancellation of his bail application by Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui in the judges detention case earlier in the day.

On Thursday, the bench took up as many as 22 constitutional petitions against the decisions of the election tribunal.

The bench allowed 10 petitions and dismissed five others, while notices were issued in six petitions.

Those who were allowed to contest the forthcoming election through their petitions included Adbul Aziz Memon, Syed Murad Ali Shah, Dr Nasrullah Boloch, Ali Nawaz Mehar, Mir Ahmed Nawaz and Nadir Magsi.