Lahore
\nThe PTI cried foul on Saturday amid widespread rejections of its candidates\u2019 nomination papers \u2014 including that of its incarcerated founder Imran Khan \u2014 for the upcoming general elections as the final day of the scrutiny phase lapsed.
\nPTI Chairman Barrister Gohar had previously said that Imran would contest the upcoming polls from three constituencies of Lahore, Mianwali and Islamabad.
\nThe returning officer (RO) of Lahore\u2019s NA-122 constituency rejected Imran\u2019s nomination papers, with fellow party leader Khurram Sher Zaman claiming that his candidature in Mianwali and Islamabad had also met the same fate.
\nA detailed order from Lahore\u2019s NA-122 RO Muhammad Iqbal stated that objections to Imran\u2019s nomination from the constituency were raised by former PML-N MPA Mian Naseer Ahmed on a trio of grounds: Imran\u2019s proposer was not a voter from NA-122, Imran is a convict on the allegation of dishonesty and his conviction still stands whereby he has also been disqualified by the ECP for five years, and lastly due to the fact that the Adiala Jail superintendent, where Imran is currently incarcerated, did not attest to the PTI chief\u2019s nomination form.
\nImran was convicted in the Toshakhana case on August 5 after being found guilty of \u201ccorrupt practices\u201d, and sentenced to three years\u2019 imprisonment. He was subsequently disqualified by the ECP for five years. On August 28, the Islamabad High Court had suspended his sentence.
\nThe RO said that after considering the arguments from both sides, Imran\u2019s proposer was indeed found to not be a voter of the constituency and this was a \u201csubstantial defect which cannot be remedied\u201d.
\nThe RO further said that the court\u2019s verdict in Imran\u2019s conviction established that it was related to the offence of moral turpitude and, hence, the PTI chief was subject to Article 63(1)(h) of the Constitution.
\nThe law states: \u201cA person shall be disqualified from being elected or chosen as, and from being, a member of the Parliament if he has been, on conviction for any offence involving moral turpitude, sentenced to imprisonment for a term of not less than two years, unless a period of five years has elapsed since his release.\u201d
\nThe RO noted that the conviction was still not yet set aside or suspended and the ECP disqualification also remained in effect.
\nHe argued that in light of the above, the objector\u2019s arguments were \u201clegal and substantial in nature\u201d and had succeeded in making a case against Imran, thus, his nomination papers from NA-122 stood rejected.
\nApart from Imran, a number of other senior PTI leaders\u2019 nomination papers were also reportedly rejected, with the party alleging widespread misconduct by ROs towards its candidates and their proposers.
\nSenior PTI leader and former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser said: \u201cToday, the nomination papers of all the senior leaders of PTI, including me, were rejected. These are just tricks to make Nawaz Sharif the prime minister.\u201d
\nHe said the party would challenge the rejections in the courts.
\n\u201cUp and down the country, state machinery is in full swing against PTI\u2019s candidates whose proposers and seconders or they themselves are being openly harassed, assaulted and pushed back from ROs\u2019 offices,\u201d Barrister Gohar said.
\nHe termed the events the \u201cworst kind of misuse of authority and abuse of process\u201d and the \u201cflagrant failure of ECP in performance of its constitutional duties\u201d.
\nPTI Secretary General Omar Ayub condemned what he said was the \u201cpolitically motivated rejection of nomination papers\u201d for Murad Saeed, Sahibzada Sighbatullah, Dr Amjad Khan, Fazal Hakim Khan, Mian Sharafat and Salim ur Rahman.
\nHe said such \u201cpre-poll rigging\u201d would cast the transparency of the upcoming polls into question.
\n\u201cWith the way state apparatus, led by a disgraceful ECP and CEC (chief election commissioner), has first obstructed the submission of papers and then maneuvered to have the nomination papers of PTI candidates rejected on fake and flimsy grounds speaks volumes of the fraudulent elections that we are headed for,\u201d said PTI Information Secretary Raoof Hasan.
\nSpeaking in an interview on media show Naya Pakistan, PTI Senior Vice President Latif Khosa said \u201cnot a single\u201d PML-N candidate was rejected while party vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi and his family, and party president Parvez Elahi, Moonis Elahi and their family\u2019s nomination papers were also rejected.
\nHe added that not just the PTI, but the nominations of Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) President Sardar Akhtar Mengal and Grand Democratic Alliance leaders Fehmida Mirza and Zulfiqar Mirza were also rejected.
\nHe claimed that even if the current rejections were not reversed, the party had covering candidates available in \u201cevery constituency\u201d.
\n\u201cOur freedoms are vanishing,\u201d said PTI Senior Vice President Sher Afzal Marwat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lahore The PTI cried foul on Saturday amid widespread rejections of its candidates\u2019 nomination papers \u2014 including that of its incarcerated founder Imran Khan \u2014 for the upcoming general elections as the final day of the scrutiny phase lapsed. PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar had previously said that Imran would contest the upcoming polls from three […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377767,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-377741","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n