The nomination documents of PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif for NA-130 were contested on Monday following the filing of a case with the appellate tribunal.
Pakistan Awami Mahaz (PAM) chief Ishtiaq Chaudhry filed the appeal, claiming that Nawaz has been permanently disqualified by the Supreme Court and cannot run in the February 8 elections.
Chaudhry appealed for Nawaz to be ruled ineligible and for his nomination papers to be rejected on the grounds that he believed the returning officer (RO) had approved his documents in violation of the law.
The three-time prime minister recently made a comeback to Pakistani politics, intending to run in the general election of 2024. Following careful examination, RO Asghar Joya of NA-130 Lahore accepted Nawaz’s nomination papers on December 26 without receiving any objections.
If his nomination papers win the most recent court battle, the former prime minister would run for NA-130 against 22 other candidates and prominent member of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Dr. Yasmin Rashid.
The Supreme Court (SC) disqualified the former premier in the Panama Papers case in July 2017.
The judges of the highest court decided that Nawaz was unfit to hold the position because he had lied to both the parliament and the courts about his job in a Dubai-based company in his 2013 nomination papers.
He was then given 10 years in the Avenfield flats and 7 years in Al-Azizia referrals by an accountability court. Nevertheless, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) cleared him in both instances.
The SC will, however, settle the conflict between the judicial ruling and the parliamentary law about whether disqualification under Article 62 of the Constitution means for life or five years prior to the general elections in 2024.
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