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) occasion accusing authorities of stopping most of its candidates from collaborating 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 below the Structure, based on paperwork seen by the AP. Additionally 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 identify. It mentioned the previous prime minister couldn’t turn into a nominee as a result of he’s not a registered voter of the constituency and as a result of him being “convicted by the courtroom of regulation”.
The cricketer-turned-politician’s nomination bid was additionally rejected in his hometown of Mianwali in Punjab province, based on his media staff.
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 Courtroom granted him bail in a case alleging he leaked state secrets, however he’s persevering with to struggle a barrage of authorized circumstances which have dogged him since being faraway from workplace final yr.
Hottest chief
Khan, who’s broadly seen because the nation’s hottest chief, has alleged that Pakistan’s highly effective navy is colluding with conventional events to destroy his political occasion and stop him from operating for workplace once more.
The navy has traditionally performed a serious function within the nation’s politics and has instantly 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 web site The Intercept printed in August what it claims to be the main points of a secret diplomatic cable that suggested the US administration wanted to remove Khan from power.
The ECP had beforehand dominated that Khan’s PTI occasion can’t contest basic elections utilizing its cricket bat brand, however the Excessive Courtroom within the northwestern metropolis of Peshawar earlier this week handed his team a legal 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 occasion, 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 facing legal 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 can 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).
