On Friday, the Supreme Court rejected the decision of the Lahore High Court (LHC) and the Election Tribunal to reject Elahi’sElahi’s nomination papers. This decision was made by a three-member bench headed by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, including Justice Jamal Khan Mandukhel and Justice Athar Minullah.
Pervaiz Elahi was the former Chief Minister of Punjab. He had submitted his nomination papers for general elections. The election will held on February 8. The returning officers rejected his papers. However, the Election Tribunal and the LHC later upheld this decision.
On Wednesday, Pervaiz Elahi had approached the Supreme Court. The reason behind the approach is to reject the decision of the Lahore High Court, which upholds the ROs’ decision to reject his candidature for NA-64 and PP-32. He had pointed out two separate petitions in the Supreme Court.
Yesterday, Pervaiz Elahi’s lawyer, Faisal Siddique, said they had decided to withdraw the petition for the NA seat.
“We decided to contest [the elections] on only one seat due to the shortness of time.”
Hearing
At the beginning of today’s hearing, Pervaiz Elahi’s lawyer, Faisal Siddique, took a stand in front of the court that the ballot papers were being printed. He requested the court to allow him to present his arguments in the case. Later, the court gave the parties till 11 am to present their arguments.
When the hearing resumed, Justice Minullah emphasized that the court must demonstrate the Election Act so that the people are not deprived of electing the representative of their choice.
In his arguments, Siddique told the court that he had yet to receive the complete order that rejected Elahi’s nomination papers from the RO. He said Elahi’s papers were rejected because he had yet to open separate bank accounts for campaigning in different constituencies.
He further said that “Pervaiz Elahi is competing from five constituencies.” Justice Minallah asked where the law says individual accounts are required for the different constituencies.
Siddique said, “The accounts are scrutinized after the election if there is more expense during the campaign.” He said that the police were present at the time of submission of nomination papers.
He added, “Another objection raised in the petition is that my client has hidden ownership of a ten-marla property in Punjab.” My client never bought this plot. He was in jail at that time.” He added that the purchase was dated when Elahi was in jail.
Justice Mandukhel argued that to inquire about a person’s assets is to compare his assets before and after coming to power. The judge said, “If you deny the ownership of the plot, that is fine.” Elahi’s lawyer said that “he is not contesting elections for the first time. He has been the province’s chief minister twice.”
Justice Mandukhel said, “Elahi is lucky because new properties have come in his name. “You should give these surplus properties for charitable purposes.”
After hearing the arguments, the court rejected the decision to reject Pervaiz Elahi’s nomination papers. The court also allowed him to contest the election from PP 32.
The Supreme Court also directed the authorities to allot electoral symbols to Elahi and include them in the ballot papers.
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