Supreme Court Clears PTI Candidates, Including President Parvez Elahi, for February 8 Elections
In a major relief to the embattled Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the Supreme Court on Friday approved the appeals of its candidates including President Parvez Elahi to contest upcoming elections slated for February 8.
Besides Elahi, the top court approved appeals of PTI candidates Umer Aslam, Major (retd) Tahir Sadiq, Sanam Javaid Khan, and Shukat Basra against returning officer decisions to reject their nomination papers from different constituencies.
The former Punjab chief minister had approached the Supreme Court to contest the upcoming general elections and challenged the verdict of the Lahore High Court (LHC), upholding the Election Tribunal’s decision of rejecting his nomination papers.
PTI president, presently confined in Adiala Jail
The PTI president, presently confined in Adiala Jail, filed a petition in the apex court under Article 185(3) of the Constitution for leave to appeal against the judgment dated January 13, 2024, passed by the LHC in his petition.
Advocate Faisal Siddiqui represented Elahi in the case.
Presenting his arguments, Elahi’s counsel highlighted anomalies in the objections raised by the rival candidates and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
“We don’t want a delay in elections,” Siddiqui told the bench. He implored the court to grant permission to his client to contest the upcoming elections in Gujarat.
“Strangely, all this is happening to only one political party,” Justice Minallah remarked.
Justice Shah said elections call for the inclusion of people and not exclusion.
The SC judge said the Constitution allows enfranchisement and not disenfranchising the voters via elections.
the Apex Court Declared the RO’s Decision
After hearing the arguments, the apex court declared the RO’s decision to reject Elahi’s nomination papers from PP-32 invalid and allowed him to contest polls from the Gujarat provincial assembly seat.
Elahi withdrew appeals against the rejection of nomination papers from other constituencies including two NA seats.
The top court permitted PTI candidates Tahir Sadiq and Omer Aslam Awan to run in the polls from NA-49 (Attock) and NA-87 (Khushab) constituencies, respectively, in addition to Elahi.
