Daily Times

LAHORE: Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Thursday challenged the Rawalpindi appellate election tribunal’s decision restraining him from contesting from NA-57 Murree – his home constituency – in the Lahore High Court (LHC).

In his petition, Abbasi stated that the tribunal exceeded its authority when it disqualified a former prime minister for life on Wednesday.

A day earlier, the tribunal had disqualified Abbasi for “concealing facts and withholding information from voters” in his nomination forms submitted for NA-57 Murree. In its written verdict, the tribunal had said that Abbasi “does not meet the requirements under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution of Pakistan.”

The verdict read that the former premier was “found guilty of concealment of facts and withholding of the complete information from his voters.” It said that Abbasi “is not an honest and ameen person.”

However, Abbasi has already been allowed to contest from Islamabad’s NA-53 constituency after the election tribunal ruled in his favour over the returning officer’s initial rejection of his nomination papers.

Separately, the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday accepted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry’s plea and allowed him to contest the upcoming general election from NA-67 Jhelum.

Earlier in the day, the PTI leader had moved the LHC against an appellate election tribunal’s decision restraining him from contesting from NA-67.

Taking to Twitter, Chaudhry termed the LHC’s decision a win for the PTI and the people of Jhelum. In an earlier tweet, the PTI leader had thanked the leadership of Pakistan Bar Council, Lahore High Court Bar Association and lawyers for standing with him in “rejecting illegal order of disqualification” against him.

Speaking to media after the LHC judgment, the PTI leader said, “Those who were celebrating my disqualification are now hiding their faces.” His nomination papers were rejected from his home constituency on Thursday during hearing of an appeal filed by Justice and Democratic Party’s Fakhar Abbas Kazmi against the acceptance of nomination papers by the returning officer. Kazmi had pleaded that Chaudhry did not pay agriculture tax on his land. He had also stated that the PTI leader’s name on his identity card was listed as ‘Fawad Ahmad’.

Published in Daily Times, June 29^th 2018.