Parvez Elahi ,Shaukat Basra and Sanam Javed get permission to contest elections

Article 17 says no one can be barred from contesting election without valid reasons,” Justice Shah.

PTI candidates from NA-59, NA-64, and NA-69 PP-23, PP-34, PP-32, and PP-42. President Parvez Elahi , NA-160 Shaukat Basra and  NA-119, NA-120, and PP-150 Sanam Javed got permission from the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) to contest elections in the upcoming elections rejecting the verdict of Returning Officers (ROs) of respective constituencies. 

Islamabad(Mudassar Chuhdary/Webdesk)_  The veteran politician – has been allowed to contest for the provincial assembly seat in his home constituency of Gujrat PP-32. The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday declared null and void the decision of election tribunal which rejected his nomination papers.

A three-member bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail and Justice Athar Minallah heard Elahi’s plea against the rejection of his nomination papers.

Elahi’s counsel Ihsan Khokhar said that they don’t want to delay the elections and sought permission for his client to contest from PP- 32 Gujrat. The court ruled during the hearing that the voters cannot be deprived of their right to vote.

“The job of Returning Officer is to facilitate and not to create hindrances in the elections. The election is all about the involvement of people and not their exclusion,” the court remarked.

The court allowed his appeal and directed the concerned authorities to print his name and election symbol on the ballot paper.

The division bench of the Supreme Court directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to publish and print the names of the PTI’s allowed candidates in the ballot boxes.

A three-member SC bench headed by Justice Munib Akhtar and comprising Justice Shahid Waheed and Justice Irfan Saadat Khan issued the verdict after hearing the appeal of Javed against the LHC’s decision.

The apex court, in its 2-page written order, said: “We have heard learned counsel for the petitioner as also the learned DG (Law) and learned DG (Political Finance).”

“This leave petition is converted into an appeal and allowed. The impugned judgment of the learned High Court are set aside with the result that the nomination papers of the petitioner, now appellant, for NA-119 (Lahore), NA-120 and PP-150 are deemed accepted, and her name is deemed included in the final list of candidates for the General Elections of 2024,” the top court said in its verdict.

The court directed the Election Commission of Pakistan to include her name and election symbol on the ballot papers for the general election.

Earlier during the hearing, the court observed that a candidate could allocate a joint bank account for elections as there was no restriction in law in that regard.

The petitioner’s lawyer contended that on December 21, his client Sanam Javed gave an affidavit dated December 22 before the oath commissioner who confirmed her signature.

He said that the returning office rejected her nomination papers citing that no one met her in jail on December 22.

The lawyer said that his client never claimed that she had signed the document on December 22. The jail administration, in response to the RO’s letter, confirmed that no one held a meeting with Javed on December 22, and on that basis her documents were rejected, he added.

He further said that Javed mentioned a joint bank account with her father in the nomination papers. The RO objected that why a separate bank account was not allocated for election expenses.

Justice Shahid Waheed remarked that how the returning officer could conduct an inquiry into the matter himself.

Read More from Daily The Destination; Unpacking the Aftermath: Supreme Court’s Verdict on PTI Symbol and Its Implications for Pakistan’s Upcoming Elections

The court subsequently approved the appeal of Javed and allowed her to contest the elections.

Earlier, the Lahore High Court announced it reserved judgment on the petitions filed against the decision of the election Appellate Tribunal and rejected the appeals of former PTI chairman Imran Khan, Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Fawad Chaudhry, Hammad Azhar, Sanam Javed, Chaudhry Parvez Elahi and others.

The PTI leaders, among 60 election candidates, had submitted petitions in the LHC against the rejection of their nomination papers.

The court had summoned the lawyers to present arguments. Today was the last day to file petitions against the decisions of the election tribunals. The court had reserved its verdict on more than 60 petitions, including Imran Khan, Shah Mahmood, Parvez Elahi and others.

Dismissing the appeals, a three-member bench of the LHC, headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi, upheld the decision to reject the nomination papers. Shah Mahmood had challenged the rejection of his nomination from NA-150, NA-151 and PP-218