LAHORE – An election tribunal of the Lahore High Court on Friday issued notice to the attorney general and the Punjab advocate general to assist the court on an appeal against rejection of former president Pervez Musharraf’s nomination papers from NA-139, Kasur.
The tribunal comprised Justice Khawaja Imtiaz and Justice Khalid Mahmood Khan resumed hearing on the appeal moved by Pervez Mushraf.
The petitioner said he served as head of the state and he left the presidency with grace. He said no court had given a decision against him. The counsel argued the returning officer had rejected the papers of APML chief on the objections raised by a PML-N candidate.
According to the constitution, no Pakistani could be barred from contesting elections, he submitted. He requested the tribunal to set aside the RO decision and allow the APML chief to contest elections from NA-139.
At this, Justice Khalid Mahmood Khan said prime facie Pervez Musharraf subverted the constitution and done extra constitutional steps. However, neither any case was registered against him under article 6 of the constitution nor he was convicted by any court, the judge observed.
The tribunal, after recording the arguments, issued notice to attorney general and advocate general to assist the court on a point that how a person could be restrained from contesting elections on the grounds of allegations.
On the other side, the nomination papers of PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif for NA-120 have been accepted by the election tribunal. The appeal against Sharif’s nomination papers was dismissed by the election tribunal headed by Justice Nasir Saeed Sheikh.
The court declared that those who had raised objections should have approached the returning officer prior to submitting the appeal in the high court.
The tribunal dismissed appeals against the nomination papers of Pervez Malik (NA-123), Malik Riaz (NA-118), Hamza Shahbaz (NA-119) moved by the voters of respective constituencies. The tribunal observed the appeal could be filed only by the opposite candidates against the decisions of returning officers.
The tribunal also dismissed an appeal against PTI candidate Malik Ashiq from NA-142 on the same grounds.