Imran Khan out of Pakistan election race

Ending hopes for Pakistan’s former premier Imran Khan, the Lahore High Court on Wednesday upheld the rejection of his nomination papers for the February 8 general elections, Dawn News reported. The high court upheld the decisions of the returning officer (RO) and appellate tribunal given against acceptance of the disqualified former premier’s nomination papers from NA-122 and NA-89 constituencies. It reported that Imran’s nomination papers had been rejected primarily on the grounds of being convicted in the Toshakhana case, in which he was sentenced to three years of imprisonment. The case, filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), had accused Imran of not mentioning the details of state gifts in his tax declarations. Imran’s nomination papers from NA-122 were also dismissed on the grounds of the proposer not being a voter from the constituency. The appellate tribunals had also upheld the decisions of the respective returning officers (ROs) with an observation that the conviction and sentence were two different terms as conviction pertained to the guilty verdict and sentence stands for the rigours following conviction. Earlier, Lahore High Court (LHC) reserved the decision on a writ petition filed by Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan against the election appellate tribunal’s dismissal of his appeal regarding the rejection of his nomination papers by the Returning officer (RO), The Express Tribune reported on Tuesday. Arguing during the hearing, Imran Khan’s counsel contended that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) lacks the authority to disqualify an individual. The tribunals had noted that the conviction meant a guilty verdict pronounced by a court in reference to the delinquency attributed to an accused, whereas the sentence denoted the quantum of punishment. @@@