ISLAMABAD: The appellate tribunals are going to dispose of the appeals against acceptance or rejection of nomination papers of candidates for the Feb 8 general elections today.
According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the tribunals headed by high court judges would dispose of the appeals today and the revised list of candidates would be published tomorrow (Thursday).
According to the ECP, the withdrawal of nomination papers is scheduled for Jan 12 (Friday) and the final list of candidates will also be released on the same day.
The election symbols would be allotted to the candidates on Jan 13 (Saturday), and the polling would take place on Feb 8.
The appellate tribunals on Tuesday dismissed the appeals of Fawad Chaudhry and Murad Saeed, challenging the rejection of their nomination papers for contesting the upcoming polls. The appellate tribunal of the Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi bench dismissed Fawad’s appeal against the decision taken by the returning officer from NA-60 and NA-61, Jhelum.
Justice Chaudhary Abdul Aziz, announcing the decision, sustained all objections against Fawad and upheld the returning officer’s decision.
The court revealed that Fawad concealed his wife’s bank accounts and foreign trips, failed to submit an affidavit, and also hid details about his movable and immovable assets.
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Consequently, Fawad Chaudhry is now out of the election race, as is his wife Hiba Chaudhry. She was already disqualified for the polls.
Advocate Faisal Chaudhry stated that the couple plans to challenge the tribunal’s decision in a higher court.
Meanwhile, in Swat, the tribunal affirmed the RO’s decision and rejected PTI leader Murad Saeed’s appeal.
The appalled tribunal noted that Murad’s power of attorney lacked attestation, and he did not personally appear before the tribunal. Murad had submitted papers for NA-3 and NA-4.
The appellate tribunals in Punjab also rejected the appeal of senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi. A tribunal threw out the objections raised against the acceptance of the nomination papers of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader Maryam Nawaz.
In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, several PTI heavyweights won the appeals against the rejection of their nomination papers by the ROs concerned during the scrutiny process that concluded last weekend.
