LAHORE: After a full bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) dismissed an appeal filed by former prime minister Imran Khan against the rejection of his nomination papers from NA-89 (Mianwali) and NA-122 (Lahore), the PTI founder may approach the Supreme Court to contest Feb 8 elections.

“A forum [Supreme Court] for the appeal is available, but we will make this decision after consultations with the party founder incarcerated in Adiala Jail,” a spokesperson for the PTI told Dawn.

A three-member bench headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi also dismissed the pleas of PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Presi­dent Parvez Elahi, former federal ministers Hammad Azhar, and Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party leader Fawad Chaudhry against the rejection of their nomination papers. The bench, which also included Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan and Justice Jawad Hassan, decided a total of 341 petitions since Jan 10.

Safdar Shaheen Pirzada, an advocate of the Supreme Court, said the LHC constituted a full bench to hear the challenges against the decisions of the appellate tribunals, which deprived the candidates of playing a second round of litigation in the high court by way of filing intra court appeals (ICAs). He recalled that in the past single benches heard the petitions against the tribunals’ orders under its writ jurisdiction providing an opportunity for the ICAs before two-judge benches. He said now all aggrieved by the decisions of the LHC full bench are left with one option i.e. approaching the Supreme Court under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution.

LHC full bench dismisses appeals of former PM, Qureshi, Elahi against appellate tribunals’ decision

The former prime minister had assailed the decisions of the returning officers (ROs) and the appellate tribunals rejecting his nomination papers from NA-89, Mianwali and NA-122, Lahore. Mr Khan’s nomination papers were rejected primarily on the grounds of being convicted in the Toshakhana case. His nomination papers from NA-122 were also dismissed on the grounds of the proposer not being a voter from the constituency.

Advocate Uzair Bhandari argued on behalf of Mr Khan that the conviction on the charge of moral turpitude did not fall under the definition of disqualification. He said the conviction of the petitioner could not be equated with the conviction for corruption or accumulating illegal assets. He pointed out that an Indian court enlisted the offence of moral turpitude lower than the offence involving financial corruption. However, the bench observed that the standards of morality in Pakistan were different from other regions.

The lawyer argued that the returning officer (RO) had no jurisdiction to pass the impugned order on the basis of the conviction on moral turpitude. He stated that the Islamabad High Court had already suspended the sentence of the petitioner.

A lawyer for the ECP opposed the petition and argued that the conviction of the petitioner was still in force and he had not been overturned by the high court.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi had challenged the rejection of his nomination pa­­pers from NA-150, NA-151 and PP-218 of Multan. The ROs had rejected his nomination papers due to unverified signatures. The appellate tribunal had also dismissed his appeal. The full bench upheld the decisions of the ROs and the tribunal.

The bench dismissed the petition of Mr Elahi against the rejection of his nomination papers from seven constituencies — NA-59, NA-64, NA-69, PP-23, PP-42, PP-32, and PP-34 of Gujrat.

The bench dismissed the petition of Fawad Cha­u­dhry against the rejection of his nomination pap­ers from NA-60 and NA-61 of Jhelum. The bench also dismissed a petition of his wife Hiba Fawad against the rejection of her nomination papers from NA-61 and PP-26 of Gujrat. A petition of absconding PTI leader Hammad Azhar was also dismissed against the rejection of his nomination papers from NA-129, Lahore.

The full bench dismissed a petition by PTI social media activist Sanam Javed challenging the rejection of her nomination papers from NA-119 and PP-150 of Lahore.

However, the bench dismissed petitions against the acceptance of nomination papers of former interior minister Sheikh Rashid from NA-56, Rawalpindi, Zulfi Bokhari of PTI from NA-50, Attock, former federal minister Zartaj Gul from NA-185, DG Khan, and former provincial minister Mian Mahmood Rashid from PP-169, Lahore.

The bench also dismissed a petition against the acceptance of nomination papers of PTI’s former leader Usman Dar’s mother from NA-71 and PP-46 of Sialkot. The bench dismissed a petition of PTI leader Shaukat Basra challenging the rejection of nomination papers from NA-163, Bahawalpur.

Ikram Junaidi in Islamabad also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2024