LAHORE, Dec 7: PML (N) leaders Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif on Friday called upon Chief Election Commissioner Qazi Mohammad Farooq to revoke the rejection of their nomination papers for the Jan 8 polls.

In separate letters faxed to the EC, they termed the returning officer’s decision mala fide taken under ‘false’ excuses.

An official of the Election Commission said that the EC had urged them to approach the election tribunal comprising judges of the high court for a review. The reply was faxed to the Sharifs within two hours, he said.

Addressing a press conference here on Friday evening, Shahbaz Sharif said they would never appear before the judges who had taken the oath under the Provisional Constitution Order.

He said they had written the letters to the EC after consulting the party.

He recalled that in 2002 a full bench of the Lahore High Court had reversed the decision of a returning officer to disqualify him from contesting the elections that year.

“I’m neither a wanted criminal, nor an absconder and not a bank defaulter. I can name at least 10 candidates who are either convicts or on bail but they are allowed to contest the polls,” he said.

He said that the punishment of Nawaz Sharif had also been revoked by former President Rafiq Tarar (before his deportation to Saudi Arabia in Dec 2000).