ISLAMABAD: On Friday, the Supreme Court (SC) reversed its decision to reject the nomination papers submitted by Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, the central president of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). This decision allows Elahi to run for office in the next general elections.
In addition to withdrawing from all other constituencies, the court ordered that Elahi’s name and electoral symbol be included on the ballot paper for the PP-32 constituency in Gujarat.
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, and Justice Athar Minallah were the three members of the bench that were examining an appeal against the rejection of nomination papers. The bench was led by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah.
An objection was raised by Advocate Faisal Siddiqi, who was representing Elahi, due to the fact that there were no separate accounts for election expenses in each seat.
The leader of the PTI, who was running for office from five different constituencies, was confronted with inquiries over the legality of not opening separate accounts for each of them. Justice Athar Minallah provided an explanation of the constitutional necessity.
Elahi was surrounded and held by the police on the day that he received nomination papers, according to the argument submitted by his attorney.
In his response to an objection that accused Elahi of concealing ownership of a 10 Marla piece in Punjab, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail emphasized the importance of legal matters.
In the objection, it was stated that a purchase had been made on November 20, 2023. Siddiqi, on the other hand, maintained that the assets’ disclosure date was June 30, 2024, and that his client had never purchased a block of land like that. At the time, he was incarcerated.
For the purpose of preventing the deprivation of people’s rights, Justice Minallah advocated for the interpretation of the Election Act.
In addition, the properties that were declared by Elahi, Moonis Elahi, and Qaisara Elahi were questioned, and the Returning Officer did not make a decision to dispute them, as stated by Faisal Siddiqi.
Justice Mandokhail proposed that the additional property be given to a charitable organization as a donation proposal. In addition to this, Siddiqi went even further and insisted that the government might keep the land for itself if it had any issues to it.
By bringing attention to the rights of voters, Siddiqi made a request for authorization for Elahi to run for election up to the limit of PP-32 Gujarat candidates.
When asked by the bench where he obtained the information about the parcel, the attorney for the opposing candidate, Hafiz Ahsaan Ahmad Khokhar, disclosed that he obtained the paperwork from a Patwari, who is a government officer who is responsible for maintaining land records.
As a result of the disclosure, the bench raised issues regarding the involvement of the caretaker administration during the investigation. To what extent are you implying that the government is involved in all of this? Mr. Justice Mandhokhail inquired, “Please provide us with the names of the officials.”
It was later determined that the government officer in question was Qaisar, and this was revealed when Justice Shah questioned the prosecution about how they became aware of the conspiracy.
Following the rejection of his nomination papers for the impending general elections, Elahi filed a petition with the highest court in the land, arguing that the objections that were brought against his candidacy could not be upheld. This petition was filed the day before.
In addition to submitting his nomination papers for four Punjab Assembly seats (PP-23, PP-34, PP-32, and PP-42), Elahi, who is presently being held in custody at the Adiala jail in Rawalpindi, also submitted his nomination papers for three National Assembly seats (NA-59, NA-64, and NA-69). On the other hand, his papers were denied by a number of returning officers (ROs).
The decision of the ROs was contested by him before an election tribunal, which ultimately upheld the ROs’ verdict. Afterwards, Elahi filed a petition with the Lahore High Court (LHC), which, on January 13, was a three-member court that supported the verdict of the tribunal.
The Supreme Court received an appeal from the central president of the PTI, which was filed against the ruling handed down by the lower high court. The appeal named the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the election tribunal as defendants. He made a motion to the Supreme Court that the ruling made by the LHC be declared invalid.
