ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday rejected the nomination papers of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leaders Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Sardar Mehtab Abbasi, along with Ayesha Gulalai, for NA-53 constituency. According to the ECP, the nomination forms were turned down over violation of Section ‘N’ of the affidavit, which relates to the development work a candidate undertakes in his or her own constituency The objection raised by the returning officer stated that the respective candidates failed to fill affidavit according to the conditions mentioned. The candidates, however, decided to challenge the decision in an election tribunal today (Wednesday). Last week, Pakistan Justice and Democratic Party (PJDP) leader Abdul Wahab Baloch had challenged PTI chief’s nomination papers for NA-53, pointing out the issue of Sita White and her daughter Tyrian. He had argued that the PTI chief was not eligible to contest the elections as he didn’t meet the criterion laid down under articles 62 and 63 of the constitution. Earlier, former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhary, the head of PJDP, had claimed in an interview that he had evidence to show that Khan had admitted to being the father of Tyrian White while abroad, but denied the same in Pakistan. The former CJP subsequently filed a case with the RO against Khan’s eligibility to hold public office under Article 62 (1)(f). Moreover, Returning Officer (RO) Adnan Khan also dismissed the objections raised against Imran’s candidacy for being “incomplete”. Babar Awan, counsel for Imran, appeared before the returning officer on Tuesday and presented his arguments over the objections to the PTI chief’s candidacy. Awan remarked that they rejected the objections against Imran seven times in the written reply submitted to the ECP a day ago, adding that all the objections were based on falsehood. He said that the photocopies used to ‘incriminate’ Imran fell under the ambit of forgery. “The petitioner had referred to a decision of a United States court, but where was the name of the child’s father,” Awan questioned. The returning officer observed that the papers were not rejected outright, to which Awan replied that they had rejected the papers in their reply submitted earlier. Moreover, the Supreme Court had declared Imran ‘Sadiq’ and ‘Ameen’ the counsel added. Following this, counsel for Baloch also presented his arguments before the returning officer. The returning officer, after listening to the arguments presented by both the parties, reserved his verdict on the matter. The scrutiny of nomination papers to exclude ineligible candidates from the race started last Tuesday, a day after ROs completed the process of receiving nomination papers from prospective candidates. According to the revised election schedule issued by the ECP on June 8, the last date for filing appeals against acceptance or rejection of nomination papers by the ROs is June 22. The last date for decision on the appeals by tribunals is June 27. The final list of contesting candidates is expected to be published on June 30. Published in Daily Times, June 20th 2018.