Appellate tribunal issues notices to ECP, RO over Imran's petition challenging NA-53 verdict
Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani conducted hearing of the plea in Islamabad High Court (IHC).
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) –The appellate tribunal on Friday issued notices to Election Commission of Pakistan and Returning Officer over the petition of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan challenging the rejection of his nomination papers from NA-53 constituency.
Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani conducted hearing of the plea in Islamabad High Court (IHC).
During the proceeding, Khan’s counsel Babar Awan raised objection over the petition against his client being admissible for hearing.
The petitioner’s lawyer argued that Imran Khan is not ‘Sadiq and Ameen’ under article 62-1 F. “The RO rejected the objections on the basis that I am not the voter of the constituency. But it has provided me the right to appeal. According to US court, Imran Khan is the father of Tyrian,” he said.
“The law says that only the voter of the constituency can raise objection over the candidate. My client is being subjected to media trial. They are speaking on the basis of unverified documents,” responded Babar Awan.
The hearing of the case was adjourned till Monday.
On the other hand, Khan has also challenged the rejection of his nomination papers from Mianwali’s NA-95 constituency in appellate tribunal.
On Tuesday, the nomination papers of Imran Khan were cleared by the returning officer (RO) for Lahore’s NA-131 constituency and Karachi’s NA-243 but faced rejection for Islamabad’s NA-53.
Abdul Wahab Baluch, a candidate of the Justice and Democratic Party (JDP) headed by former chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, has challenged the eligibility of Imran Khan to contest the general election due to the Sita White case.
Meanwhile, the other three candidates of NA-53 namely Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Ayesha Gulalai and Mehtab Abbasi from NA-53 have also filed petitions against the RO’s rejection of their nomination papers.