LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has dismissed an appeal by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) President Chaudhry Parvez Elahi to reverse the rejection of his nomination papers for the upcoming February 8 general elections, dealing another blow to the Imran Khan-led party. The three-member bench, led by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi, delivered the verdict on Saturday.
The high court upheld the decisions made by the Returning Officer (RO) and the appellate tribunal regarding the rejection of Elahi’s nomination papers from NA-64 and PP-32. Meanwhile, Qaisara Elahi, the wife of the former Punjab chief minister, was granted permission to participate in the polls from two constituencies as her nomination papers for NA-64 and PP-32 were accepted.
Furthermore, the LHC full bench also turned down Moonis Elahi’s appeal challenging the rejection of his nominations from NA-64, NA-69, PP-32, and PP-34.
Earlier, on January 8, an election tribunal had rejected appeals by Elahi and his wife against the dismissal of their nomination papers from NA-59 and PP-23. The tribunal affirmed the RO’s decision, declaring them “disqualified” for withholding asset details and other information.
Numerous objections were raised against the Elahi family, including allegations of concealing assets, failure to disclose shares in various companies, Qaisara’s foreign visit, non-compliance with the rule mandating separate bank accounts for expenses in both constituencies, technical errors in documents, and submission of documents without verification from the oath commission.
Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, a prominent PTI leader, was initially arrested on June 1 in connection with a Rs70 million graft case related to the misappropriation of development funds allocated for the Gujrat district. He has remained in custody since then.
(Islamabad51_Newsdesk)
