An election appellate tribunal on Wednesday summoned the returning officer (RO) on an appeal filed against the acceptance of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif’s nomination papers from NA-130.
The objection raised pertained to Nawaz’s lifetime disqualification. The registrar’s office had initially raised objections to the appeal for not annexing the attested copy of the RO’s decision, however, Justice Rasaal Hassan Syed of the tribunal removed the objection.
The appellant asked the election tribunal if the nomination papers of an individual who has been disqualified by the Supreme Court can be accepted and whether the judgement of the apex court was not binding on all institutions.
The appellant also questioned the possibility of being restricted from contesting elections without an adverse order from the RO.
The petitioner emphasised the unique nature of the matter, asserting that their nomination papers were rejected without any objection. The petitioner’s counsel argued that their client faced punishment for demanding the nomination papers of Nawaz, against whom objections were intended. The petitioner implored the tribunal that the RO of constituency NA-130 had first refused to give the petitioner a copy of the nomination papers of Nawaz when he disclosed before him that he wanted to file objections against Nawaz. After the RO’s refusal, he had to file a sole objection that Nawaz’s nomination papers could not be accepted in the presence of lifetime disqualification by the country’s top court. Furthermore, the petitioner further stated that the RO declined to provide the receipt of the objection. Astonishingly, despite the RO’s assurance of no objections against the petitioner, their name was excluded from the final list, while Nawaz had been included in the candidate’s list. The petitioner appealed to the LHC to overturn the RO’s decision, arguing for the exclusion of their name and the rejection of Nawaz’s nomination papers due to permanent lifetime disqualification.
Meanwhile, the ECP on Wednesday fixed January 22 as the last date for receiving applications for postal ballot papers for general elections to the National Assembly and provincial assemblies of Punjab, Sindh, KP and Balochistan.
In a statement, the ECP said that the facility, under the law, has been extended to the persons in government service, members of the armed forces, their wives and such of their children as are registered voters and ordinarily reside with them provided they are stationed at a place other than the place in which their constituency is situated.
