Five Candidates, Including Party President Parvez Elahi, Cleared for Upcoming Elections
Pakistan’s PTI Celebrates Court Victory. Five Candidates, Including Party President Parvez Elahi, Cleared for Upcoming Elections. In a significant development on Friday, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) received a favorable ruling from the top court, securing permission for five of its candidates, including the party president Parvez Elahi, to participate in the upcoming February 8 elections.
The Supreme Court granted approval to the appeals filed by PTI candidates Umer Aslam, Major (retd) Tahir Sadiq, Sanam Javaid Khan, and Shukat Basra. These candidates had contested the decisions of returning officers who had initially rejected their nomination papers from various constituencies.
Parvez Elahi, currently in custody at Adiala Jail, has been granted permission to contest the general election from the PP-32 constituency in the Gujarat district. His appeal challenged the Lahore High Court’s decision, which had upheld the Election Tribunal’s rejection of his nomination papers for National Assembly constituency NA-64 (Gujrat-III) and Punjab Assembly constituency PP-34 (Gujrat-VIII).
During the hearing, Elahi’s counsel, Advocate Faisal Siddiqui, pointed out discrepancies in objections raised by rival candidates and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). Emphasizing the urgency of the matter, Siddiqui urged the court to allow his client to participate in the upcoming elections.
Justice Athar Minallah expressed concern that voters should not be denied their right to vote, noting that a returning officer should facilitate rather than obstruct the election process. Justice Mansoor Ali Shah added that elections should be inclusive, not exclusive, and cited Article 17, which prohibits barring someone from contesting an election without valid reasons.
After considering the arguments, the Supreme Court declared the returning officer’s decision to reject Elahi’s nomination papers from PP-32 as invalid, allowing him to contest the elections from the Gujarat provincial assembly seat. Elahi withdrew appeals related to the rejection of nomination papers from other constituencies.
In addition to Parvez Elahi, the apex court granted permission for PTI candidates Tahir Sadiq and Omer Aslam Awan to contest elections from NA-49 (Attock) and NA-87 (Khushab) constituencies, respectively. Sanam Javaid Khan has been cleared to participate in polls from NA-119, NA-120, and PP-125, while Shukat Basra received approval to run for elections from NA-163 (Bahawalnagar).