Qureshi declared ineligible to contest polls in Multan

MULTAN/ LAHORE/ PESHAWAR: The Multan appellate election tribunal Saturday rejected an appeal of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi, filed against the returning officer’s (RO) decision to reject his nomination papers for two National Assembly and as many Punjab Assembly seats in Multan.

He had filed for nomination papers for NA-150 Multan-III, NA-151 Multan-IV and PP-218, PP-219 constituencies.

Talking to The News, Multan High Court Bar Association President Rana Asif Saeed said the election tribunal had rejected the appeal of Shah Mehmood, filed for restoration of his right to candidacy. The tribunal had declared him ineligible to contest election. Appellate Tribunal Judge Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar delivered the verdict, he said.

Earlier, ROs had rejected nomination papers of Qureshi from NA-150 Multan-III, NA-151 Multan-IV and PP-218, PP-219, and he had filed appeals against the rejection of his nomination papers. However, the appellate tribunal had dismissed his appeals.

Meanwhile, hearing of over 60 appeals continued in the election tribunal, established on the Multan Bench of the Lahore High Court on Saturday.

The nomination papers of Zartaj Gul and her husband Humayun were accepted from Dera Ghazi Khan, and the tribunal declared her eligible to contest elections.

Jamshed Dasti’s wife Nazia Dasti, nephew Samad Dasti’s nomination papers were accepted while his appeal against rejection of nomination papers was adjourned till Sunday. Nomination papers of Malik Niaz Ahmad Jhakkar and Malik Owais Haider Jhakkar from Leh NA-182 Multan were accepted.

The nomination papers of Irshad Arain from Multan-Burewala NA-156 were approved. Rizwan Shaukat’s nomination papers were also accepted.

Multan Appellate Judge Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Ali Zia Bajwa heard appeals at the LHC Multan Bench. The appeals from NA-139 to NA-153 and NA-156 to NA-159 were heard in the court of Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar. The appeals from PP-193 to PP-224, PP-229 to PP-236 were heard in the court of Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar. The appellate tribunal, headed by Justice Ali Zia Bajwa, heard the appeals from NA-91, NA-92, NA-175 to NA-189 as well as provincial constituencies PP-89 to PP-93, and PP-268 to PP-297.

In Lahore, an appellate tribunal held a hearing on an appeal filed against approval of nomination papers of Nawaz Sharif from NA-130 and directed the petitioner to appear before the court till Sunday.

Petitioner Shahid Aurakzai did not appear on the court summons for the second time on Saturday. The court discussed the objections of the Registrar’s Office to the petitioner’s appeal and gave the last chance to him to appear for arguments against the objections of the registrar’s office till Sunday.

The appellate tribunal of the LHC rejected the appeal against approval of Maryam Nawaz’s nomination papers from PP-80 Sargodha and the nomination papers were declared valid.

Justice Asjad Javed Ghural heard the appeal of Meher Tahir, who challenged the decision to approve nomination papers of Maryam Nawaz from PP-80 and upheld the RO’s decision.

Meanwhile, objections were raised on the nomination papers of PMLN leader Ahsan Iqbal. It was objected that the RO approved the nomination papers contrary to the facts. It was requested that the tribunal should order rejection of Ahsan Iqbal’s nomination papers. Justice Raheel Kamran Sheikh of the appellate tribunal issued notices for January 9, 2024.

Election Appellate Tribunal judge Justice Asjad Javed Ghural accepted an appeal of Toba Tek Singh PTI District President Advocate Mian Abdul Basit against rejection of his nomination papers for NA-106 and PP-121 constituencies. He allowed him to contest election from these constituencies in Toba Tek Singh.

The judge also accepted an appeal of Khalid Nawaz Sadhraij, another candidate from NA-106, and allowed him to contest election. Separately, the election tribunal of LHC upheld the decision of returning officer allowing former federal minister Sheikh Waqas Akram to contest from NA-109 Jhang constituency. The senior politician and leader of PTI had filed his nomination papers, and objections were raised by his opponent. RO Abubakar had cleared his nomination papers, and the decision was challenged in the election tribunal.

Meanwhile, the election tribunals in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa accepted appeals of PTI former lawmakers, including Arbab Sher Ali, former speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser and Taimur Jhagra, and allowed them to contest the general election, on Saturday.

The election tribunals accepted appeals of 33 PTI leaders and rejected four others. The tribunals were headed by Justice SM Attique Shah, Justice Shakeel Ahmad and Justice Waqar Ahmad. They heard a total of 38 appeals and accepted 33 of them. Four appeals were rejected.

Barrister Waqar Ahmad, who appeared before the election tribunal on behalf of Asad Qaiser, said the returning officer had rejected the nomination papers of his client after declaring the PTI’s bank account as his personal. He said the Election Commission of Pakistan had declared the bank account in question as the one belonging to the PTI during the foreign funding case. The election tribunal accepted his appeal and allowed him to contest the election.

The tribunal also allowed former provincial minister Taimur Jhagra to contest the election after accepting his appeal. His nomination papers had also been rejected by the returning officer concerned. The election tribunal allowed Yousaf Khan running for NA-36 in Hangu and Arbab Sher Ali to contest the election for NA-31.

The tribunal rejected the appeals of four candidates, including Mukhtar Khan, Mohammad Javed, Zaheeruddin and Ashfaq Mahmood. According to a related development, the LHC chief justice Saturday constituted a five-member larger bench, headed by Justice Shujaat Ali Khan, to hear writ petitions against the decisions of the election appellate tribunals. Justice Ali Baqir Najafi, Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan, Justice Faisal Zaman Khan and Justice Jawad Hassan were included in the bench.

The petitions against the decisions of the election appellate tribunals would be filed only in the Lahore High Court principal seat for approval and rejection of nomination papers of candidates for direct seats of National and provincial assembly and women and non-Muslim seats for the General Election 2024. The bench will hear writ petitions against decisions of the election tribunals on January 9, 2024.