PESHAWAR: Former president Gen (Retd) Pervez Musharraf, who had returned to Pakistan after five years of self-imposed exile to contest the May 11 polls, has been thrown out of the election race.
The former military strongman’s nomination papers were also rejected on Tuesday from NA-32 Chitral, after being earlier disqualified from three other constituencies.
Musharraf’s lawyer Muhammad Saad Shibli said they would contest the decision in the High Court.
An election tribunal in Peshawar comprising Justice Fasiul Mulk, Justice Mrs Irshad Qaiser and Justice Mazhar Alam Advocate, after a lengthy debate on the objections raised against acceptance of Musharraf’s nomination papers by the returning officer in Chitral, barred the former president from contesting general elections.
Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) candidate Abdul latif, Jamaat-i-Islami candidate Abdul Akbar Chitrali along with three voters, Sajjadullah, Alamzeb and Khalilur Rehman had filed the objections.
Earlier in the day, an election tribunal had decided against an appeal filed by Musharraf challenging the returning officer’s rejection of his nomination papers for NA-48 (Islamabad-I).
The returning officer had rejected Musharraf’s nomination after objections were raised on it saying the retired general had subverted the Constitution as army chief and had illegally placed judges under house arrest.
Musharraf’s appeal for NA-139 (Kasur-II) was also rejected by an election tribunal in Lahore. The tribunal said the former president had abrogated the Constitution thrice and thus did not qualify to contest in the coming general election.
