The Supreme Court on Friday allowed incarcerated PTI President Parvez Elahi to contest the forthcoming general elections from PP-32 of Gujrat.

A three-member bench headed by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and comprising Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail and Justice Athar Minallah overturned the rejection of Elahi’s nomination papers by the Lahore High Court (LHC) and the election tribunal.

Elahi, who served as the Punjab chief minister, had filed his nomination for the Feb 8 general elections. However, his papers were rejected by the returning officers, a decision later affirmed by both the election tribunal and the LHC.

On Wednesday, Elahi had approached the Supreme Court, seeking to overturn the LHC ruling that upheld the ROs’ decision to reject his candidacy for the NA-64 and PP-32. He had filed two separate petitions in the apex court.

Today, Elahi’s lawyer Faisal Siddique told Dawn.com that they had decided to withdraw the petition for the NA seat.

“We decided to contest [the elections] on only one seat due to the shortness of time,” he said.

“By a series of pro-democracy judgments, the SC has ignited a series of candles in the darkness of a sham election,” Siddique said when asked to comment on the case proceedings.

Hearing

At the outset of today’s hearing, Siddique contended before the court that ballot papers were currently being printed. He called on the court to let him present his arguments in the case. The court subsequently gave the parties till 11am to present their arguments.

When the hearing resumed, Justice Minallah highlighted that it was the court’s responsibility to interpret the Election Act in a way that did not deprive the people from choosing a representative of their choice.

In his arguments, Siddique told the court that he had not yet received the complete order by the RO which rejected Elahi’s nomination papers. He said that Elahi’s papers were rejected on the basis that he failed to open separate bank accounts for campaigning in different constituencies.

“Elahi is contesting from five constituencies,” he said. At this, Justice Minallah asked where the law said that separate accounts were required for the different constituencies.

“If there is an overspending during campaigning, the accounts are scrutinised after the polls are conducted,” Siddique said. He said that police were present when the nomination papers had to be submitted.

“Another objection raised in the plea is that my client hid the ownership of a 10 marla property in Punjab,” he added.

“My client never purchased this plot. He was in jail at that time,” he contended, adding that the purchasing date was from when Elahi was in jail.

Justice Mandokhail asserted that the reason behind asking about a person’s assets was to compare what he owned before and after coming into power.

“It is fine if you are rejecting the ownership of the plot,” the judge said.

“He is not contesting the elections for the first time,” Elahi’s lawyer said. “He has remained chief minister of the province twice,” he added.

He further said that the deadline for declaring assets was June 30, 2024. “Surprisingly, at the same time, the declared properties of Elahi, his wife Qaisra, and his son Moonis came to light,” he said.

Justice Mandokhail remarked that Elahi was a lucky man as new properties in his name had surfaced. “You should give these additional properties for charity purposes,” he quipped.

At one point, Justice Minallah remarked that it seemed as if the caretaker government was involved in getting Elahi’s nomination papers rejected. He said the RO’s job was to facilitate election candidates instead of burdening them.

“Unfortunately all this is happening with only one political party,” Justice Minallah said.

After hearing the arguments, the court declared the decision to reject Elahi’s nomination papers null and void and allowed him to contest the elections from PP-32.

The Supreme Court also directed the authorities concerned to allot Elahi an election symbol and have it included in the ballot papers.

Four other PTI leaders granted relief

Separately, the apex court also allowed PTI leaders Umar Aslam, retired Major Tahir Sadiq, Sanam Javed and Shaukat Basra to contest the upcoming general elections.

Sadiq had submitted his nomination papers from NA-49 (Attock) but his candidature was rejected by the returning officer (RO) after completion of the scrutiny process. Besides him, the papers of his wife Naz Tahir were also rejected on various grounds.

The PTI leader had approached the Lahore High Court against the decision but faced a similar fate there as well. He had subsequently approached the SC.

Today, a three-member bench comprising Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail accepted Tahir’s petition and allowed him and his wife to participate in the polls.

Separately, the bench also allowed Aslam to contest elections. The PTI leader, representing the party from NA-87 (Khushab), was arrested last month and his nomination papers were snatched.

During the hearing, Justice Shah remarked that there was no law which prevented a “fugitive” from exercising his fundamental right to participate in elections. Meanwhile, Justice Minallah said the ECP was answerable to the public and should let them decide “who is what”.

Meanwhile, another SC bench comprising Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Irfan Saadat Khan allowed Basra and Sanam to take part in the forthcoming polls.

Sanam petitioned the top court following the rejection of her nomination papers from NA-119 and PP-150, Lahore. Basra approached SC after his papers were rejected from NA-160.

During the proceedings, Sanam’s counsel contended that her client faced disqualification due to the absence of a separate bank account for election purposes. The counsel argued that it was impractical for an incarcerated individual to open a personal bank account.

Basra’s lawyer informed the court that a returning officer had rejected a single bank account, asserting that the deadline for accepting nomination papers had elapsed. Justice Saadat pointed out that the election schedule did not specify 3pm as the cutoff time for submitting nomination papers.

Justice Akhtar questioned the rationale behind excluding a candidate from the electoral race merely for a 30-minute delay in submitting nomination papers beyond the scheduled time. He emphasised that there was no prohibition on the use of a joint bank account for a contestant.

To find your constituency and the location of your polling booth, SMS your NIC number (without spaces) to 8300. Once you know your constituency, you can find out about the contesting candidates by visiting the ECP website here and checking the province-wise break-up of Form 33s.