File photo. Tolga Akmen—AFP
A rival aspirant on Monday challenged the acceptance of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) leader Nawaz Sharif’s nomination papers from Lahore’s NA-130 constituency, arguing the former prime minister stood disqualified for “lifetime” in the Panama Papers case.
Last week, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) completed its scrutiny process of nominations for the Feb. 8, 2024 polls, with returning officers accepting Sharif’s candidacy, while rejecting several high-profile politicians, including PTI’s Imran Khan and BNP-M’s Akhtar Mengal.
Among the rejected aspirants from NA-130 is advocate Ishtiaq Ahmed Samsialvi, chief organizer of the Pakistan Awami Mahaz (PAM)’s lawyers’ wing. In his appeal to the Lahore High Court’s appellate tribunal, he sought the reversal of his rejection, while also seeking the rejection of Sharif’s nomination. The plea argues that the acceptance of Sharif’s nomination papers is “illegal and unlawful” due to his 2017 “lifetime” disqualification by the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case. In this regard, the petition questioned whether the apex court’s judgment was “not binding upon all the institutions,” including the ECP. It also questioned whether the plaintiff could be barred “from contesting election in absence of any adverse order passed” by the RO.
According to Samsialvi’s plea, his nomination papers were accepted without any objections last month and he was told his name would be included in the list of eligible candidates. However, he claimed, his name was excluded “illegally and unlawfully in absence of any order.”
The plea, however, was returned by the registrar over not including a certified copy of the RO’s order, with the PAM leader alleging in his petition the RO had refused to provide him copies of Sharif’s nomination papers. He maintained the RO had “no justification” to accept Sharif’s nomination and sought contempt proceedings against the official.
An election schedule issued by the ECP has listed Jan. 1-3 as the dates for submission of appeals against the acceptance or rejection of nomination papers for the polls. Such appeals are to be decided by Jan. 10, with the ECP to publish a preliminary list of candidates on Jan. 11.