The Sindh High Court’s (SHC) election appellate tribunal on Friday accepted the appeals of PTI Vice-Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, his son Zain and party provincial president Haleem Adil Sheikh against the rejection of their heir nomination papers for the upcoming general elections going to be held on Feb 8.

The nomination papers of Qureshi and his son were rejected by the returning officers (ROs) from the NA-214 constituency (Tharparkar-I). Similarly, Haleem Sheikh’s nominations were rejected from NA-238 (Karachi-East IV).

The appeal acceptance also follows that of PTI Central Vice President Firdous Shamim Naqvi, who had submitted his nomination papers from Karachi’s NA-236.

The RO had objected to Qureshi and Zain’s candidature for not providing details of their assets, source of income and paid taxes.

Rejection of nomination papers hurts PTI’s prospects

In Peshawar, election tribunal judge Justice Shakeel Ahmad accepted the nomination papers of Atif Khan for NA 22 and PK 59 (Mardan). In Rawalpindi, appellate tribunal rejected RO’s decision and cleared Raja Basharat to contest polls from NA 55 and PP 15.

Zulfi Bukhari’s appeal was allowed by a tribunal and he was permitted to run for election from Attock’s NA 50 constituency. Former PTI MPA from PP 15 was also allowed to contest the election.

Appellate Tribunal Judge Asjad Javed conducted hearing of PTI lawyer Naeem Panjotha against RO’s decision and declared returning officer’s decision as null and void. Panjotha will contest election from National Assembly constituency NA 82 (Sargodha), PP 71 and PP 80.

However, former PTI MPA Arif Abbasi’s appeal from PP 19 was rejected by the election tribunal. The appellate court said Arif Abbasi was a proclaimed offender and he had not surrendered to the court.