Imran Khan and other PTI bigwigs nomination papers rejected
Election Commission moves Peshawar High Court for review of ‘bat’ verdict,
PTI candidates move to ECP for level playing field,
Islamabad/Lahore/Multan(Mudassar Iqbal/Thair Chuhdary/Sohaib Iqbal/Webdesk)-The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Saturday rejected the nomination papers of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) bigwigs including former chairman Imran Khan and vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi for various constituencies,.
According to the sources, PTI founder Imran Khan’s nomination papers were rejected for NA 122 Lahore and NA -89 Mianwali.
The officials of the provincial election commission also confirmed the news.
Seth Muhammad Iqbal, the returning officer (RO) assigned to scrutinize the nomination papers of the NA-122 constituency in his decision maintained,” The PTI founder has been convicted as a court has disqualified him for 5 years.”
The RO in his 8-page detail decision observed that in the nomination papers of the former prime minister, the proposer is not a resident of the same constituency.
The RO decided the case in response to an application filed by Mian Naseer Ahmed.
The RO further held that Imran Khan is ineligible to hold elections under Article 63/1H of the Constitution.
Adding to the political turbulence, PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi and his son Zain Qureshi faced a similar fate in Tharparkar NA 124. Both failed to reach the Returning Officer, leading to the rejection of their nomination papers.
The nomination papers of Shah Mahmood Qureshi, his son Zain Qureshi, and her daughter Mahar Bano for the NA-150, NA-150, and PP-218 have also been rejected by the provincial election commission on the ground that their endorser and proposers could not reach in RO Multan office. Meanwhile, former PTI MNA Ali Mohammad Khan’s nomination papers for NA-23 were also rejected, as his name was mysteriously absent from the final list of voters.
The RO observed that there are several legal cases registered against him under various provisions.
In another development, Quetta witnessed breaking news as PTI leader Qasim Suri’s nomination papers for NA 263 were rejected.
The Returning Officer declared Suri a defaulter and absconder, promising a detailed decision to be handed over to Suri’s legal representatives.
The nomination papers of former PTI leader and Speaker of National Assembly Asad Qaiser and PTI leader and former KP Minister Shahram Khan were rejected on the ground that their names were not included in the final list.
Asad Qaiser filed his nomination papers for NA 19 Swabi and PK- 50 while Shahram Khan intended to contest from NA- 20 Swabi, PK 52, and PK 53 simultaneously.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Saturday rejected the nomination papers of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) bigwigs including former chairman Imran Khan and vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi from various constituencies, reported the 24NewsHD TV channel.
According to the sources, PTI founder Imran Khan’s nomination papers were rejected for NA 122 Lahore and NA -89 Mianwali.
The officials of the provincial election commission also confirmed the news.
Seth Muhammad Iqbal, the returning officer (RO) assigned to scrutinize the nomination papers of the NA-122 constituency in his decision maintained,” The PTI founder has been convicted as a court has disqualified him for 5 years.”
The RO in his 8-page detail decision observed that in the nomination papers of the former prime minister, the proposer is not a resident of the same constituency.
The RO decided the case in response to an application filed by Mian Naseer Ahmed.
The RO further held that Imran Khan is ineligible to hold elections under Article 63/1H of the Constitution.
Adding to the political turbulence, PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi and his son Zain Qureshi faced a similar fate in Tharparkar NA 124. Both failed to reach the Returning Officer, leading to the rejection of their nomination papers.
The nomination papers of Shah Mahmood Qureshi, his son Zain Qureshi, and her daughter Mahar Bano for the NA-150, NA-150, and PP-218 have also been rejected by the provincial election commission on the ground that their endorser and proposers could not reach in RO Multan office. Meanwhile, former PTI MNA Ali Mohammad Khan’s nomination papers for NA-23 were also rejected, as his name was mysteriously absent from the final list of voters.
The RO observed that there are several legal cases registered against him under various provisions.
In another development, Quetta witnessed breaking news as PTI leader Qasim Suri’s nomination papers for NA 263 were rejected.
The Returning Officer declared Suri a defaulter and absconder, promising a detailed decision to be handed over to Suri’s legal representatives.
The nomination papers of former PTI leader and Speaker of National Assembly Asad Qaiser and PTI leader and former KP Minister Shahram Khan were rejected on the ground that their names were not included in the final list.
Asad Qaiser filed his nomination papers for NA 19 Swabi and PK- 50 while Shahram Khan intended to contest from NA- 20 Swabi, PK 52, and PK 53 simultaneously.
The nomination papers of former Provincial Minister Atif Khan for provincial constituency PK-59 have been rejected.
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Likewise, the nomination papers of PTI candidates Tufail Anjum and Amir Farzand from the provincial assembly constituencies PK- 55 and PK- 56 were also rejected.
The RO office Mardan maintained that the names of Atif Khan, Tufail Anjum, and Ameer Farzand are not included in the final list.
PTI former chairman Imran Khan ‘s spokesperson and lawyer Naeem Panchota’s nomination papers for NA 80 were also rejected by the Sargodha returning officer.
The RO held that Naeem mentioned only one vehicle in his name in the nomination papers while he possessed more than one vehicle per the Punjab excise and taxation record.
The nomination papers of PTI’s Dr. Nisar Ahmed Jat, the opponent of Rana Sanaullah Khan from NA-100, were rejected.
However, the nomination papers of Samira Ilyas Jat, wife of Nisar Ahmad Jat, have been approved.
According to sources, Nisar Ahmed Jat will appeal against the rejection of the nomination papers and if the appeal is not accepted, Nisar Ahmed Jat’s wife will contest the election against Rana Sanaullah. In the 2018 elections, there was a fierce contest between Nisar Ahmed Jat and Rana Sanaullah, in which Rana Sanaullah emerged as the winner.
Meanwhile, the nomination papers of former federal interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and his nephew Sheikh Rashid Shafiq were rejected by the election commission. Both had submitted their nomination papers for NA-57.
The nomination papers of four PTI candidates for national assembly seats, Lower Dir including former MNA Bashir Khan, Syed Mehboob, and Sahibzada Sibghatullah were rejected.
Likewise, the nomination papers of PTI candidates for provincial constituencies of Lower Dir including Malik Humayun Khan, Malik Shafiullah, Malik Liaquat Ali, and Muhammad Azam were rejected.
In Talagang Constituency NA 59, the nomination papers of five candidates including PTI president Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, his wife Qaisra Elahi and Hafiz Ammar Yasir were rejected for concealing property and giving false information.
PTI leader Jamshed Dasti’s nomination papers were also rejected against provincial seats PP-269 and PP-271.
The nomination papers of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf candidate Ayaz Ameer, a famous columnist from Chakwal NA-58 have been rejected by RO Chakwal.
According to sources, his nomination papers were rejected due to his false statement about his property and other information.
The nomination papers of Ejaz Hussain Farhat, Ali Nasir Bhatti, and Tariq Kalis were also rejected against the same constituency.
Former National Assembly speaker Fehmida Mirza’s nomination papers for NA-223 were rejected.
Returning Officer Mohammad Nawaz rejected nomination papers of Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) candidate Fehmida Mirza, her spouse Zulfiqar Mirza and son Hussam Mirza for National Assembly seat NA-223 on being bank defaulters.
pakistan People’s Party candidate Rasool Bux Chandio had filed objection that the Mirza family has been bank loan defaulter.
The returning officer of Jhelum rejected the nomination papers of 12 candidates including former PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry. The nomination papers of PML-N’s candidates Meher Fayyaz and Asim Ashfaq of TLP were also rejected.
The RO Mansehra confirmed that the PTI leader Azam Swati’s nomination papers were rejected from NA-15.
Swati’s lawyer Sohail Swati said Azam Khan’s papers were rejected claiming his signatures to be fake and objecting to him being an absconder.
Nomination papers of PTI’s leader Zulfi Bukhari from NA 50 Attock were also rejected by the ECP.
Bukhari, on the other hand, said his papers were not being accepted claiming that his signatures were not genuine, which he termed “ridiculous”.
The close aide of PTI founder Imran Khan said he even had them notarised and counter signed by the oath commission.
Announcing to move court against the decision, Bukhari also alleged that six people including his lawyers, proposers and seconders had been abducted.
The nomination papers of PTI activist Sanam Javed were also rejected by the RO Lahore. She was contesting NA-119.
Nomination papers of former Punjab assembly speaker Sardar Mohammad Sabtain Khan have also been rejected. He filed his nomination papers for PP-88, Mianwali. The nomination papers of his son Ali Akbar Khan and Ali Jafar Khan were also rejected.
While,
After days of deliberations, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Saturday finally challenged the verdict passed by a single member Peshawar High Court (PHC) bench, which allowed the PTI to contest the February 8 general elections on “bat” – the party symbol.
The ECP for this purpose has filed a review petition so that the PHC verdict of suspending its orders about declaring the PTI intraparty elections illegal and removing the party from the list of sanctioned political parties, which meant that it could no longer contest the polls with the symbol.
In its December 26 ruling, the single-member bench had accepted a plea filed by the PTI and restored the party symbol till a final decision, as, according to the court, a two-member bench would hear the matter after winter vacations.
According to the ECP petition, a division bench should hear the matter immediately for being a matter of public interest, noting that disputing any phase of the electoral exercise meant that the whole process had been challenged.
The petition mentions that that the ECP is responsible for conducting elections honestly, justly, fairly and in accordance with law by making necessary arrangements ahead of the polls.
“This court […] observed that election is a process which starts with the issuance of the election programme and consists of the various links and stages in that behalf as, filing of nomination papers, their scrutiny, the hearing of objections and the holding of actual polls. If any of these links is challenged it really (is) tantamount to challenging the said process of election,” it said.
“This case implies that where a violation of the standards mentioned in Article 218(3) has not as yet taken place, the Election Commission is legally empowered under Article 218(3) to exercise its powers pre-emptively in order to avoid a violation of these standards,” said the petition.
Moreover, the plea said that the petitioners had sought “interim relief” for the suspension of ECP’s order and, therefore, the court could not grant final relief as an interim relief, which meant that the single-bench judgment was against the law as well as against a Supreme Court verdict issued in 1997.
Earlier,
54 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidates on Saturday moved to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in a bid to level the playing field.
The federal and provincial governments, 17 DROs, the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra), the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra), and the PTA had been made parties. The PTI candidates had urged the need to “halt the crackdown” against the party leaders and workers.
Along with the application, details about the events that “transpired” in NA-49 had also been sent to the ECP.
Separately, the verdict regarding the nomination papers of Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rashid from NA-56 had been reserved on Saturday.
The scrutiny was held again against Rashid’s nomination papers in NA-56. The verdict had been reserved after the completion of the hearing.
Expressing his thoughts, Rashid said, “There is no reality about the allegations levelled against my nomination papers. The fake nomination papers had been prepared. I feel the need to approach the high court or the Supreme Court.”
“I have declared all my assets to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR),” he said.
