Imran Khan’s appeal to contest elections from Mianwali NA-89 gets rejected
The development comes on the last day to dispose of appeals filed against acceptance or rejection of nomination papers for the Feb 8 general elections
PTI founder Imran Khan’s appeal to contest elections from Mianwali NA-89 was rejected on Wednesday.
The Election Tribunal on Wednesday ruled that the founder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan, is ineligible to participate in the upcoming elections not only from Lahore but also from Mianwali.
The verdict was authored by Appellate Tribunal Judge Chaudhry Abdul Aziz.
The verdict issued by the appellate tribunal for NA-89 (Mianwali) stated, ” The nomination papers submitted by Imran Khan met the fate of rejection through the impugned order passed by the returning officer during the process of scrutiny carried out in terms of Section 62 of the Elections Act 2017”.
“The rejection of the nomination paper was mainly structured upon the ground that since the appellant stands convicted in a case with a sentence of three years, thus is disqualified under Article 63(10) of the Constitution for becoming a member of parliament”.
“This tribunal is created under Section 63(1) of the Elections Act, 2017 having powers limited only to examine the legality of orders passed by the returning officers under Section 62.”
“Section 63 of the Elections Act, 2017 places a clog upon this tribunal to decide only the legality of the finding given by the returning officer regarding the rejection or acceptance of nomination papers,” it added.
Two separate appellate tribunals upheld the returning officers’ (RO) decision to reject the ex-premier’s nomination papers from NA-122 Lahore and NA-89 Mianwali.
Imran Khan filed an appeal with the tribunal after the Returning Officer in NA-89 Mianwali rejected his nomination papers.
The development comes on the last day to dispose of appeals filed against acceptance or rejection of nomination papers for the February 8 general elections.
According to the election schedule, the preliminary list of candidates will be displayed on Thursday, Jan 11 and candidates can withdraw their nomination papers till Friday, Jan 12.
