LHC tribunal upturns ECP's decision, accepts Dar's Senate nomination papers
Lahore High Court's appellate tribunal on Saturday accepted former finance Minister Ishaq Dar's nomination papers for the Senate election after hearing arguments on an appeal against the Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) rejection of the documents.
The former federal minister had challenged the ECP's rejection of his Senate election nomination papers on Thursday.
According to Dar's lawyer, his papers were rejected without reason, and requested that the tribunal nullify the returning officer's rejection of Dar's nomination papers.
Hearing the lawyer's arguments in the case, the tribunal upturned the ECP's decision and accepted Dar's nomination papers.
On Monday, the election body had noted that Dar was a court absconder in a corruption and money-laundering reference pending against him in an accountability court, subsequently rejecting his nomination papers.
The appeal on Dar's behalf, filed on Thursday with the tribunal, stated that the returning officer rejected his papers even though all the legal requirements were fulfilled.
67-year-old Dar, who is currently in London undergoing medical treatment, was declared an absconder by an accountability court in December last year in a corruption reference after he repeatedly failed to join the trial. He is being probed on charges of amassing assets beyond his known sources of income.