Daily Times

The Sindh Elections Appellate Tribunal on Saturday rejected a petition against the acceptance of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s nomination papers, clearing him to contest the election from Karachi’s NA-243, a private TV channel reported.

The appeal had been filed by a candidate from former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry’s Pakistan Justice and Democratic Party (PJDP). The appeal had pointed to Khan’s alleged failure to disclose the sponsors of his foreign trips and information on who bears the expenditure of his children as well as his failure to mention his alleged daughter in the nomination papers.

While Khan will be able to contest the election on the Karachi seat – which comprises Gulshan-i-Iqbal and parts of Jamshed Quarters – his appeals against the rejection of nomination papers from NA-95 (Mianwali) and NA-53 (Islamabad) are still pending with the Punjab and Islamabad election tribunals.

Other than these seats, the PTI chief is also in the run for NA-35 (Bannu) and NA-131 (Lahore). A day earlier, the PTI chief announced that he would formally begin his election campaign from Mianwali, from where he was elected in 2002. The tribunal also issued notices on appeals against the rejection of papers of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s (MQM-P) Farooq Sattar and the acceptance of former chief minister Murad Ali Shah’s nomination papers.

Meanwhile, the Punjab appellate tribunal cleared Maryam Nawaz to contest elections from PP-173, rejecting an appeal against acceptance of her nomination papers. A separate appeal, filed by PTI’s Yameen Rashid, is still pending with the tribunal against the acceptance of Maryam’s papers from NA-125.

Published in Daily Times, June 24^th 2018.