Election tribunal reserves verdict on PTI founder's appeal against rejection of nomination papers
Pakistan
PTI Founder's nomination papers were rejected on several criminal charges
RAWALPINDI (Dunya News) - The Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi Bench has reserved verdict on the appeal of PTI founder against rejection of his nomination papers from National Assembly constituency NA-89 Mianwali.
The court will declare the verdict on January 10.
Counsel for PTI founder Barrister Ali Zafar submitted before Justice Chaudhry Abdul Aziz that the returning officer did not provide an evidence on the basis of which his client was declared ineligibile.
He requested the tribunal to annul the decision of the returning officer.
Barrister Zafar cited the case of Khawaja Muhammad Asif in 2018 when he was disqualified from holding a public office for life by the Islamabad High Court for possessing a UAE work permit.
The tribunal remarked that “there was an evidence of salary in Khawaja Asif’s case, but there is no evidence or details provided about money earned from Toshakhana.”
The law department director general argued that the RO was only responsible for assessing the eligibility criteria of contestants and accepts and rejects nomination papers on legal grounds.
“But in this case, the contestant is convicted, as well as having been declared disqualified by the IHC. Therefore, he is ineligible to contest the election,” he added.
He requested the judge to dismiss the appeal as the returning officer rejected the papers as per law.
Later, after hearing the arguments of both parties, the Election Tribunal reserved its decision which will be announced on January 10 at 10 am.
