The jailed chief’s bid to overturn his disqualification within the wake of conviction in a corruption case rejected by election physique.
Pakistan’s election physique has rejected former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s nomination to contest the 2024 parliamentary elections, with Khan’s Pakistan Tahreek-e Insaf (PTI) get together accusing authorities of stopping most of its candidates from taking part within the elections due in February.
The 71-year-old former cricket star, who’s serving a three-year jail sentence for corruption, was barred from politics for 5 years by the Election Fee of Pakistan (ECP). However he nonetheless filed nomination papers on Friday.
Election officers disallowed Khan’s candidacy due to his conviction and what they mentioned was his disqualification beneath the Structure, based on paperwork seen by the AP. In addition they rejected the candidacies of former members of his cupboard.
The ECP launched a listing of rejected nominees from Lahore on Saturday, which additionally contained Khan’s title. It mentioned the previous prime minister couldn’t develop into a nominee as a result of he’s not a registered voter of the constituency and as a consequence of him being “convicted by the court of law”.
The cricketer-turned-politician’s nomination bid was additionally rejected in his hometown of Mianwali in Punjab province, based on his media workforce.
Khan has not been seen publicly since his incarceration in August within the corruption case by which he was accused of unlawfully promoting state items whereas in workplace.
Final week, the Supreme Court docket granted him bail in a case alleging he leaked state secrets and techniques, however he’s persevering with to battle a barrage of authorized instances which have dogged him since being faraway from workplace final yr.
Hottest chief
Khan, who’s extensively seen because the nation’s hottest chief, has alleged that Pakistan’s highly effective navy is colluding with conventional events to destroy his political get together and forestall him from operating for workplace once more.
The navy has traditionally performed a serious position within the nation’s politics and has immediately dominated for many years since independence in 1947 from British rule.
The 71-year-old chief has additionally alleged that the Pakistani navy and america authorities conspired to topple his administration after he visited Moscow simply earlier than Russia invaded Ukraine.
Washington and Pakistan’s navy have denied the accusations.
Nevertheless, the US-based information website The Intercept printed in August what it claims to be the small print of a secret diplomatic cable that instructed the US administration wished to take away Khan from energy.
The ECP had beforehand dominated that Khan’s PTI get together can’t contest common elections utilizing its cricket bat brand, however the Excessive Court docket within the northwestern metropolis of Peshawar earlier this week handed his workforce a authorized victory by suspending the order.
Along with the 71-year-old Khan, the election fee has additionally rejected nomination papers submitted by different senior members of his get together, together with vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
The fee, nevertheless, has accepted a nomination bid from former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from two constituencies, weeks after a courtroom overturned two corruption convictions.
However Sharif, who additionally has been dealing with authorized challenges for years and returned dwelling in October to finish a four-year self-imposed exile in the UK, nonetheless must take away a life ban on holding public workplace, a listening to for which will probably be held in January.
The PTI has accused the Pakistani authorities of rejecting 90 percent of nominations from its party candidates whereas permitting nomination papers from different events, together with Sharif’s Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
