The highest court in Pakistan on Friday gave the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) a major reprieve, allowing three of its candidates—including the party’s imprisoned president, Parvez Elahi—to run in the forthcoming elections on February 8.
PTI candidates Umer Aslam, Major (retd) Tahir Sadiq, and Elahi filed appeals with the Supreme Court challenging the decisions of returning authorities to deny their nomination papers from different seats. The appeals were allowed.
Elahi has been given permission to run in the general election from the Gujarat district’s PP-32 seat.
In order to contest the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) ruling upholding the Election Tribunal’s rejection of his nomination papers, the former chief minister of Punjab filed an appeal with the Supreme Court.
Elahi, who is presently detained in Adiala Jail, submitted a plea on January 13, 2024, under Article 185(3) of the Constitution, requesting permission to appeal the ruling of the LHC.
Previously, his nomination papers from Punjab Assembly seat PP-34 (Gujrat-VIII) and National Assembly constituency NA-64 (Gujrat-III) were rejected.
Elahi’s case was considered by a three-judge Supreme Court panel, which included Justices Mansoor Ali Shah, Jamal Khan Mandokhail, and Athar Minallah. Elahi was represented by Advocate Faisal Siddiqui.
Elahi’s legal representative asked the court to grant his client immediate permission to run in the forthcoming Gujarati elections, pointing to irregularities in objections made by competing candidates and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
Justice Minallah voiced worry over barriers to the electoral process and stressed that voters should not be denied the opportunity to cast a ballot.
Elahi was allowed to run for the Gujarat provincial assembly seat after the Supreme Court ruled that the denial of his nomination papers from PP-32 was illegitimate after taking into account the grounds presented.
Elahi retracted his petitions against the denial of nomination packets for two NA seats and other constituencies.
Elahi’s nomination papers were contested on a number of grounds, including asset concealment, failure to disclose shares, noncompliance with banking regulations, technical problems, and submission of documents without proper verification.
Elahi was first detained on June 1st, 2018, in connection with a corruption case involving the misappropriation of development funds. Since then, there have been further arrests of Elahi, including those relating to money laundering and purportedly unlawful appointments.
The top court also gave permission to PTI candidates Tahir Sadiq and Umer Aslam Awan to run in the polls from the NA-49 (Attock) and NA-87 (Khushab) constituencies, respectively, in addition to Elahi.
