PTI leaders challenge rejection of nomination papers for February polls

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice Chairman and former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has challenged the rejection of his nomination papers by the relevant returning officer for the National Assembly constituency NA-214 Tharparkar-I.

Filing an appeal with the election appellate tribunal at the Sindh High Court, Qureshi said he had filed his nomination papers for NA-214 to contest the general elections 2024, but his papers were rejected for not submitting the dues clearance certificate and for unverified signatures on authority letters.

The appellant’s counsel Ali Tahir said the RO rejected the nomination papers on technical grounds, even though it was an admitted fact that the appellant was incarcerated at the Rawalpindi prison and being subjected to “the worst political victimisation”.

Tahir said that the authority letter was signed by the appellant after the trial court’s orders, and the same was also shown to the RO but he refused to accept it, thereby snatching the right of the appellant to contest the polls.

He said candidates are not under any legal obligation to provide a dues clearance certificate in the absence of any tangible material to the contrary or an objection, so the RO’s order was contrary to the laws and the to directions issued by the superior court with regard to the acceptance of nomination papers.

He also said the appellant had fulfilled all the legal requirements for submitting his nomination papers, so the impugned decision of the RO was nothing but “a pre-planned and premeditated pretext to keep the appellant out of the electoral process”.

He requested that the appellate tribunal set aside the RO’s order, and that it allow the appellant to contest the election for NA-214 Tharparkar-I.

Qureshi’s son Makhdoom Zain Hussain, who is also a former national and provincial assembly member of the PTI, challenged the rejection of his nomination papers by the RO for NA-214 on identical grounds.

Moreover, PTI leader and former provincial assembly opposition leader Haleem Adil Sheikh challenged the rejection of his nomination papers by the relevant RO for NA-238 Karachi East-IV.

The appellant’s counsel said that the rights of the appellant have been significantly affected throughout the electoral process. He said that the nomination papers of the appellant were rejected by the RO on “political” grounds, which was not in accordance with the law.

He also said that the RO had made “motivated” grounds to reject the nomination papers of the appellant, such as a lack of police clearance and dues from the PA. He requested the tribunal to set aside the RO’s order and allow the appellant to contest the election for NA-238 Karachi East-IV.