Rejecting all objections against Imran Khan’s candidacy from NA-53, an appellate tribunal on Wednesday allowed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief to contest polls from Islamabad.
Returning Officer (RO) Adnan Khan had rejected Imran’s nomination papers last week, along with those of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidates Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Sardar Mehtab Abbasi and PTI’s disgruntled leader Ayesha Gulalai for failing to fill clause ‘N’ of the affidavit in which they were required to mention the contribution to their respective constituencies during their previous tenure as lawmakers.
Since then, the nomination papers of Shahid Khaqan, Mehtab and Gulalai had already been accepted by the tribunal.
Earlier in the day, Imran appeared before the Islamabad election tribunal to fill clause ‘N’ of the affidavit submitted along with his nomination papers for the constituency. In clause ‘N’, the PTI chief stated that he set up the Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital, established Namal College and made the nation aware of its constitutional rights. The PTI chief’s candidacy from NA-35 Bannu was also approved after his nomination papers were challenged in the Peshawar appellate tribunal. Similarly, the objections against PTI chief’s nomination papers from NA-243 Karachi were dismissed. For the same constituency, the tribunal also accepted the nomination papers of Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan’s Khawaja Izharul Hasan.
Meanwhile, an appellate election tribunal dismissed former Sindh minister for Education and Literacy Nisar Khuhro’s nomination papers for PS-11 (Larkana II).
The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had issued a party ticket to Khuhro for PS-11 constituency for the forthcoming general elections scheduled for July 25.
Khuhro’s nomination papers were rejected because he listed two wives and four children as his dependent, instead of three wives. The PPP leader failed to list a wife and a daughter as his dependents and did not mention a 166-acre land in his nomination papers, the tribunal noted.
While reacting to the decision, Khuhro remarked that he will file an appeal against the decision of the tribunal. “I did not hide anything in the nomination papers,” he claimed. On June 19, the ECP had constituted 20 tribunals to hear appeals against rejection of nomination papers by candidates for the election after the scrutiny of nomination papers was completed.
High court judges were part of the six tribunals in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, eight in Punjab, four in Sindh, and two in Balochistan.
As per the election schedule, the revised list of candidates will be published on June 28 whereas the last date for withdrawal of candidature will be June 29. On June 30, allocation of electoral symbols will be completed and the final list of contesting candidates will be published.
Published in Daily Times, June 28th 2018.
