By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The election commission rejected the nomination papers of former prime minister Imran Khan on Saturday, effectively barring him from running in the national elections scheduled for Feb. 8, 2024.
Khan, the founder and leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, had filed his papers from two constituencies in Punjab province, Lahore and Mianwali, his home city. But the returning officers in both constituencies rejected his papers on the grounds that he was convicted of corruption and disqualified from holding public office.
The objections were raised by Mian Naseer, a member from the rival Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, who cited Khan’s five-year disqualification in the Toshakhana case, in which he was found guilty of unlawfully selling state gifts while in office from 2018 to 2022.
Khan, 71, has been in jail since August 2022, when he was sentenced to three years in prison for the same case. He has not been seen in public since then, and his media team said he filed his nomination papers through his lawyers on Friday.
Khan’s party said it will appeal the decision of the election commission by Jan. 3, the deadline for filing appeals. The appellate tribunal will decide on the appeals by Jan. 10, and the final list of candidates will be published on Jan. 11.
The PTI also said that several other prominent party leaders, including vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi and former ministers Hammad Azhar, Zulfi Bukhari, Atif Khan, Taimur Saleem Jharga, Yaseem Rashid, Asad Qasir, Azam Sawti, and Ali Mohammad Khan had their nomination papers rejected from various constituencies in Punjab, KPK and Sindh provinces.
Khan, who is widely regarded as the country’s most popular leader, has accused the powerful military of orchestrating a campaign to keep him out of the polls.
He claims he is being persecuted for his anti-corruption stance and his criticism of the military’s role in politics. The military denies any interference in the electoral process.
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