ISLAMABAD: On Monday, a petition was filed with the appellate tribunal challenging the nomination papers of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif for NA-130.
The chief of Pakistan Awami Mahaz (PAM), Ishtiaq Chaudhry, filed the appeal and claimed that Nawaz cannot run in the upcoming February 8 elections because the Supreme Court has disqualified him for life.
Chaudhry requested that Nawaz be deemed ineligible and that his nomination papers be rejected on the grounds that the returning officer (RO) had given their approval in defiance of the facts.
The three-time prime minister recently made a triumphant return to Pakistani politics, expressing his desire to run in the general election of 2024. After carefully reviewing Nawaz’s nomination papers, RO Asghar Joya of NA-130 Lahore accepted them without objections on December 26.
In NA-130, the former prime minister would face 22 other contenders, including Dr. Yasmin Rashid, a stalwart of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), if the most recent court challenge to his nomination papers is successful.
Complex legal issue
In July 2017, the Supreme Court (SC) disqualified the former prime minister in the Panama Papers case.
The judges of the highest court determined that Nawaz was unfit for office because he had deceived parliament and the courts by failing to disclose his job with a Dubai-based company in his 2013 nomination papers.
A later accountability court sentenced him to seven years in Al-Azizia jail and ten years in the Avenfield apartments. But in both instances, the Islamabad High Court found him not guilty.
The Supreme Court will decide before the 2024 elections whether disqualification under Article 62 of the Constitution is for life or five years, resolving a conflict between court decisions and legislative law.
