Pakistan elections: Pakistan's incarcerated former Prime Minister Imran Khan suffered another major blow to his hopes of contesting upcoming elections after the Lahore High Court (LHC) turned down his petitions seeking to challenge the rejection of his nomination papers from the constituencies of NA-122 (Lahore) and NA-89 (Mianwali). The court upheld the decisions of the appellate tribunals and rejected Imran's papers, Dawn reported.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder's nomination papers had been rejected primarily on the grounds of being convicted in the Toshakhana corruption case, where he was sentenced to three years of imprisonment. The latest move by the LHC leaves Imran with a final option - the Supreme Court - to contest the February 8 elections.
Imran’s nomination papers from NA-122 were also dismissed on the grounds of the proposer not being a voter from the constituency. The former PM's Toshakhana sentence was suspended in August last year, but he was not freed from prison as he was undergoing a trial in the cipher case. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had disqualified Imran for five years after his Toshakhana conviction.
The appellate tribunals had also upheld the decisions of the respective returning officers (ROs) with an observation that the conviction and sentence were two different terms as conviction pertained to the guilty verdict and sentence stands for the rigours following conviction. Subsequently, Imran had filed two petitions in the LHC asking the high court to set aside the decisions of the ROs and the appellate tribunals.
PTI's problems
The High Court verdict was also a blow to the party, whose leadership, including vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Secretary General Hammad Azhar and many more, is facing several legal cases pertaining to the May 9 riots and many of the leaders are currently behind bars.
To add to the problems, the party also lost its 'bat' electoral system. Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa announced the ruling in a live late-night telecast of the proceedings on the top court's website. Stripped off the bat, PTI candidates will need to contest on individual symbols, which could confuse its voters.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had stripped the PTI of the symbol on the technical grounds that it had not held intra-party elections, a prerequisite for any political party to take part in the national election. The party had challenged that ruling in the top court. The election campaign, delayed since November, has been a lacklustre race in an uncertain political environment.
Khan who has been in jail since August last year was arrested on Tuesday by Rawalpindi police in at least a dozen cases on the May 9 violence, including the attack on the military's General Headquarters (GHQ). According to the PTI, the state is using every possible tactic to stop its candidates from contesting the polls across the country.
On the other hand, Imran's main rival and former three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif has been cleared of all court cases and a lifetime ban from contesting the polls. Analysts say he appears to be the front runner, thanks to what they say is military support, an advantage in a country where army generals mostly decide on the making or breaking of governments. The army says it is apolitical.
Pakistan general elections
The general elections in Pakistan are scheduled for February 8, where a hotly-contested battle between Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan was expected. While the PML-N remains confident that Nawaz will return as PM, many polls earlier showed that Imran and his PTI enjoy widespread popularity.
However, Pakistan's election commission has warned that the general elections may have to be delayed if the process of changing electoral symbols does not stop, asserting that it could not keep making alterations with the February 8 polls just around the corner.
Asserting that despite having issued repeated instructions to relevant authorities that election symbols should remain unchanged once the printing starts, the ECP said that if the trend of changing the election symbols did not stop, there would be no other option but to postpone the polls in such constituencies.
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