Imran Khan.

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday upheld the election appellate tribunal’s decision that dismissed the appeals of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and other party leaders regarding the rejection of nomination papers by the returning officers (ROs) for upcoming general elections.

The former prime minister had submitted his nomination papers from NA-122 Lahore and NA-89 Mianwali for the general elections scheduled for Feb.8, both of which were rejected by the respective ROs. Subsequently, he contested these decisions before the election appellate tribunals, where his appeals were also dismissed.

In response, Imran filed a writ petition with the larger LHC bench against the tribunal’s decision. Similarly, 60 other PTI leaders, had submitted petitions in the LHC against the rejection of their nomination papers. Wednesday was the last day to file petitions against the decisions of the election tribunals.

A three-member LHC bench — headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi — announced the reserved verdict on more than 60 petitions, including Imran Khan, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Pervaiz Elahi and others.

Dismissing the appeals, the three-member LHC bench upheld the decision to reject the nomination papers. Shah Mahmood had challenged the rejection of his nomination from NA-150, NA-151 and PP-218.

Furthermore, Fawad Chaudhry’s application against rejection of nomination papers from NA-60 and NA-61 was also dismissed. The court also rejected the petition against the rejection of nomination papers of his wife, Hiba Fawad.

The LHC also upheld the decision to reject Sanam Javed’s nomination papers from NA-119 and NA-120. Sanam Javed had also challenged the move of rejecting her nomination papers from PP-150.

Also during the day, the ECP has said that the PTI, despite losing its election symbol, continues to be an officially recognised political party registered by the electoral watchdog.

A report quoting an unnamed ECP spokesman said that the PTI has not been delisted but only deprived of its election symbol for the next elections because of its failure to conduct its intra-party polls according to the law.

About the returned independent candidates in the Feb.8 parliamentary polls, the spokesman said that this is a legal question which requires review by the ECP’s legal wing.

Wasim Sajjad, a constitutional expert and former Senate chairman, said that the issue is confusing, in his opinion the PTI has only been barred from contesting the elections after having been deprived of its poll symbol. He said since the party has not been delisted by the ECP, it therefore exists and the returned independent candidates can join the PTI like any other party.