On 30th December (Saturday), Pakistan’s provincial election commission confirmed that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan’s nomination papers were rejected for National Assembly constituencies from Punjab’s capital Lahore and his home city, Mianwali, Pakistan’s Geo News reported.
As per reports, in a major crackdown against Imran Khan-led PTI, the electoral body has also rejected the nomination papers of other senior leaders of the party as well. Taking to X, PTI alleged that the Election Commission rejected nomination papers of nearly 90% of their leadership while it accepted 100% nomination papers of other parties.
Almost 90% of the nomination papers of PTI's important leaders including Imran Khan were rejected, 100% of the nomination papers of other parties were accepted.
— PTI (@PTIofficial) December 30, 2023
ROs, police, caretakers and ECP have played the role of facilitators for Nawaz Sharif in the first phase of elections…
Strikingly, their nomination papers have been rejected on the last day of the scrutiny phase. However, Geo News reported that the PTI can appeal against the string of rejections by 3rd January which will be decided by the Appellate Tribunal by 10th January. Subsequently, the electoral body will publish the revised list of candidates on 11th January.
Interestingly, the country’s Election body accepted papers of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif for NA-130 in Lahore. Sharif Senior had recently returned to Pakistan following years in exile to avoid punitive actions.
Meanwhile, ahead of the upcoming General polls in Pakistan on 8th February 2024, Khan had filed his nomination papers from Lahore’s NA-122 and Mianwali’s NA-89 constituencies.
Geo News further reported that PML-N’s Mian Naseer had raised multiple objections against Khan’s nomination papers. The objections had referred to Khan’s five-year disqualification in the Toshakhana case wherein the electoral body had found him guilty of corrupt practices under Section 167 of the Elections Act, 2017.
As per the objections, Khan’s proposer and seconder didn’t hail from NA-122. Additionally, there were multiple other objections including his disqualification in the Toshakhana case, allegedly having an illegitimate daughter, and defaulting on Rs 3.6 million social security funds. Concurring with the objections, the returning officer rejected Khan’s nomination papers.
Explaining the basis for his decision, the returning officer (RO) assigned to scrutinise the nomination papers of the NA-122 constituency said, “The PTI founder has been convicted.”
The PTI leadership has been facing multiple cases particularly ones related to the 9th May rioting case which was triggered after Khan’s arrest in a graft case and saw military installations being vandalised.
In the wake of multiple cases, PTI senior leaders, including Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi and others have been behind bars.
Election Commission clamps down on PTI leadership, goes after its Election symbol as well
Apart from Imran Khan, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) also rejected PTI Vice Chairman Qureshi’s nomination papers from Multan’s NA-150, NA-151, PP-218, and Tharparkar’s NA-214. Similarly, they also rejected former federal minister and PTI leader Hammad Azhar’s nomination papers from PP-172, Geo News report added.
Earlier in the day, it had rejected the nomination papers of Azam Swati and Zulfi Bukhari.
Additionally, in a clampdown against PTI functionaries, hundreds of Maintenance of Public Order (3-MPO) notifications had been issued against workers and leaders in relation to their alleged involvement in the May 9 incidents.
Further, the former ruling party, PTI could also lose its electoral symbol “bat” before the crucial elections in February.
On Saturday (30th December), Pakistan’s EC filed a review petition in the Peshawar High Court (PHC) challenging its earlier order that reinstated the party’s electoral symbol. The Election body had stripped PTI of its electoral symbol ‘bat’ alleging irregularities in intra-party polls.
Now, the ECP had filed this review petition to strip PTI’s bat symbol, further worsening PTI’s legal and political battle.
