Numerous senior political figures, including Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Vice-Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Fawad Chaudhry, Zulfi Bukhari, Atif Khan, Naeem Haider Panjutha, Firdous Shamim Naqvi, and others, have received relief as their nomination papers were accepted for the upcoming February 8 general elections, following hearings by election tribunals and courts.
On Friday, the hearings regarding objections filed against the acceptance or rejection of nomination papers continued in election tribunals and courts of law.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi and his son Zain Qureshi’s appeals against the rejection of their nomination papers from NA-214 were approved by the election tribunal. Similarly, the nomination papers of PTI founder’s lawyer Naeem Haider Panjutha, Zulfi Bukhari, and Haleem Adil Sheikh were also reinstated by the election tribunals.
The objections raised by Returning Officers (ROs) against the nomination papers of Raja Bashrat from PP-10, Qazi Ahmed Akbar from PP-1, Umer Tanvir Butt from PP-12, and NA-25 were overturned by the appellate tribunals.
Additionally, the nomination papers of PTI candidates such as Usama Ahmed, Ansar Iqbal, Mujahid Ali Khan, Shafiullah Jan, Amir Farzand, Abdul Salam Afridi, Adnan Khan, and others were restored by the election tribunals.
On the previous day, the Balochistan election tribunal, presided over by Balochistan High Court judges Justice Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar and Justice Amir Nawaz Rana, granted permission to several candidates whose nomination papers had initially been rejected by returning officers to contest the upcoming general elections.
