Rawalpindi (Staff Report/Agencies): The appellate election tribunal on Wednesday dismissed former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s nomination papers for NA-57, Murree.
On Monday, the tribunal reserved its verdict on an appeal against the acceptance of Abbasi’s nomination papers by the returning officer (RO) for NA 57, Murree — his home constituency.
Announcing the decision, the tribunal head, Lahore High Court Justice Abdul Rehman Lodhi, accepted all the objections of the petitioner.
Earlier, an appellate tribunal of the Lahore High Court (LHC) rejected the RO’s objections and allowed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan to contest upcoming polls from NA-95.
During the hearing of the case, Imran’s counsel Babar Awan argued that the PTI supremo had declared all his assets and the concerned RO rejected the nomination papers on technical grounds.
Awan requested the tribunal to declare the RO’s decision null and void and to allow Imran, contest the upcoming election from NA-95.
Imran Khan had submitted nomination papers for five seats of the National assembly, NA-53 Islamabad, NA-95 Mianwali, NA-131 Lahore, NA-243 in Karachi and NA-35.
However, Khan has not been allowed to contest elections from NA-53 yet, as the decision in this regard is pending.