Major blow to Imran Khan as Pakistan’s top poll body rejects his nomination papers from two seats

Pakistani election officials have rejected former Prime Minister Imran Khan as a candidate in the country’s February parliamentary election

A poster of Pakistan’s former PM Imran Khan near his Banigala residence, in Islamabad on December 23, 2023. | Photo Credit: AFP

In a major blow to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) ahead of the February 8 general elections, Pakistan’s top poll body on December 30 rejected nomination papers of party founder and former Prime Minister Imran Khan and several of his stalwart colleagues on what they described as “flimsy grounds”.

“The returning officers of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) have rejected Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan’s nomination papers for two national assembly seats – Lahore (NA 122) and Mianwali (NA-89),” the office of the Returning Officer, Lahore, said here.

Besides the main reason that Mr. Khan was convicted in the Toshakhana case, objections were raised against his nomination papers as the proposer and seconder for the PTI’s founder did not belong to the respective constituencies.

Although Mr. Khan’s sentence was suspended by the Islamabad High Court, his disqualification still stands.

“The objections, raised by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Mian Naseer, had referred to Khan’s five-year disqualification in the Toshakhana case wherein the electoral body had found him guilty of corrupt practices.

Mr. Khan, 71, and his senior party colleague and former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi have been facing multiple cases and arrests since the May 9 riots with both incarcerated at the Adiala jail in Rawalpindi.

A Pakistan court on December 28 sent Mr. Qureshi to a 14-day judicial custody in a fresh case linked to the May 9 attack on military installations.

The ECP also rejected Mr. Qureshi’s nomination papers from Multan’s two seats (NA-150 and PP-218), and Tharparkar’s seat (NA-214). Former Federal Minister and PTI leader Hammad Azhar’s nomination papers too were rejected from his seat (PP-172) on the last day of the scrutiny of nomination forms for general seats.

The other leaders included Murad Saeed, Sahibzada Sighbatullah, Dr Amjad Khan, Fazal Hakim Khan, Mian Sharafat, and Salim ur Rahman.

Meanwhile, soon after, the PTI condemned the ECP’s rejection of the nomination papers of Mr. Khan and several other party stalwarts and claimed that opposition parties cannot face the PTI in a free and fair election and are resorting to these tactics.

It also warned that if such pre-poll rigging continues unabated, the transparency of the election process is and will be called into question.

A PTI spokesperson said, “Abducting proposers and seconders is a new normal in this part of the world, the current state of lawlessness is preposterous.”

“Returning officers are accomplices and the reason why PTI had requested ROs from the judiciary and not the bureaucracy. Some group members may not be aware, but bureaucrats, including deputy commissioners, signing illegal restraining orders for PTI leadership have been appointed ROs by the interim setup, adding more hostility to the already perpetuated situation,” he added.

Party chairman Gohar Khan posted on X: “Today, the first step towards general elections (scrutiny of nomination forms for general seats) is ending. But up and down the country, the state machinery is in full swing against PTI’s candidates whose proposers and seconders or they are being openly harassed, assaulted and pushed back from ROs’ offices.”

He further said: “This is the worst kind of misuse of authority and abuse of process. It is a flagrant failure of ECP in the performance of its constitutional duties. We strongly condemn and deplore this. But tigers to stay steadfast till February 08 and thereafter.”

PTI secretary general Omar Ayub said: “We strongly condemn the politically motivated rejections. The PTI had already predicted that ROs would reject PTI candidates’ nomination papers on flimsy grounds.”

“These ROs ‘software’ has been duly ‘updated’ and the forces of status quo represented by parties like Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl) (JUI-F), Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), who cannot face PTI in a free and fair election. (They) are resorting to these tactics,” he said.

Mr. Ayub said if this pre-poll rigging continues unabated, the transparency of the election process is and will be called into question. “Political instability will grow exponentially after a rigged election, and national cohesion will deteriorate.”

Earlier, Pakistan’s Supreme Court on December 15 suspended an order by the Lahore High Court on the appointment of bureaucrats as Returning Officers, a ruling that had led to uncertainty over the much-awaited February 8 general elections. The LHC order had come against a plea by the PTI party pointing to “the apparent absence of a level playing field.”