LAHORE: The election tribunal on Wednesday dismissed the appeals of former PTI chairman Imran Khan challenging the rejection of his nomination papers from the constituencies of NA-122, Lahore and NA-89, Mianwali.

The nomination papers of Imran were mainly rejected on the ground of being convicted in the Toshakhana case. The RO of NA-122 additionally ruled that the proposer of the appellant was not a voter of the constituency.

The appeal regarding Lahore’s constituency was heard by the tribunal of Justice Tariq Nadeem at the principal seat while a tribunal of Justice Chaudhry Abdul Aziz decided the appeal about Mianwali’s constituency at the Rawalpindi bench.

ECP rejects Imran Khan’s nomination papers from Lahore, Mianwali

The counsel of Imran Khan argued that the conviction in the Toshakhana case was not a hurdle in his way to contest the upcoming general election.

He said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was not a court, therefore, the conviction in the Toshakhana case was not a disqualification under Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution.

He said the sentence of the appellant had already been suspended by the Islamabad High Court.

To the objection of the proposer and seconder of the appellant being not belonging to the same constituency, the counsel said the ECP changed delimitation after the issuance of the election schedule.

“I have no scintilla of reluctance to hold that the returning officer was legally competent to examine the candidature of Imran Khan on the touchstone of section 62 of the Elections Act, 2017,” the tribunal observed in his written verdict.

The tribunal rejected an argument of the appellant’s counsel that after the suspension of sentence, the conviction of appellant cannot be treated to be in the field.

The tribunal observed that the conviction and sentence are two different terms as the former pertains to the guilty verdict and the latter stands for the rigors which follow from conviction.

The conviction means a guilty verdict pronounced by a court in reference to the delinquency attributed to an accused, whereas the sentence denotes the quantum of punishment, the tribunal added.

The tribunal dismissed the appeal and observed that the nomination papers of Imran Khan were rightly rejected by the RO of NA-89, Mianwali.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024