Election appellate tribunal issues notices to ROs, ECP on rejection of nomination papers

An election appellate tribunal on Wednesday issued notices to a returning officer and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on an appeal filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice Chairman and former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi against the rejection of his nomination papers by the relevant RO 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.

He said that all the details of spouses, assets, sources of income and pending cases “based on political victimisation” had been provided to the RO, and that no material fact was concealed.

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 the RO erroneously held that the appellant was a defaulter, that his signature was unverified and that he failed to produce the dues clearance certificate of agricultural income issued by the Mukhtiarkar concerned.

He 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 added that 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.

After the preliminary hearing of the appeal, the election appellate tribunal headed by Justice Adnanul Karim Memon issued notices to the RO, the ECP and others, ordering them to file their comments on January 5.

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

The appellate tribunal also issued notices to an RO and others on the appeal filed by PTI leader and former provincial assembly opposition leader Haleem Adil Sheikh against the rejection of his nomination papers by the 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.

The appellate tribunal also issued notices to ROs on the appeals of PTI candidates Alamgir Khan, Arsalan Khalid, Masroor Ali and Nek Mohammad Brohi against the rejection of their nomination papers by ROs for NA-236, NA-248, NA-231, NA-230 and PS-60 Hyderabad.

The tribunal also issued notices to an RO on the appeals of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) candidates Sadiq Iftikhar and Yasiruddin, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) candidate Mirza Ikhtiar Baig and Awami National Party (ANP) candidate Shazia Razak Khan against the rejection of their nomination papers for NA-234 East, PS-109 South, and NA-241 and NA-235 East.

Over 250 appeals have been filed by political party and independent candidates contesting the general elections against the rejection of their nomination papers by ROs for different national and provincial assembly constituencies of Karachi, Hyderabad, Thatta and Mirpurkhas.