The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) confirmed Saturday that it has rejected the nomination papers for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan from multiple constituencies, dealing a major blow to the former ruling party ahead of the upcoming elections slated for February 8, 2024.
Khan had filed his nomination papers from Lahore's NA-112 and Mianwali's NA-89 constituencies — both of which have been rejected by the top electoral body.
The development comes as a major blow to the party whose leadership is facing a plethora of cases — especially pertaining to the May 9 riots — with senior leaders, including Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi and others, behind bars.
“The PTI founder has been convicted,” the returning officer (RO) assigned to scrutinise the nomination papers of the NA-122 constituency said, explaining the basis of the decision, dealing a blow to the PTI ahead of the polls.
The objections, raised by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's (PML-N) Mian Naseer, had referred to Khan's five-year disqualification in the Toshakhana case wherein the electoral body had found him guilty of corrupt practices under Section 167 of the Elections Act, 2017.
"PTI founder's proposer and seconder do not belong from NA-112," the objection added.
Separately, Khan's nomination papers from his stronghold of Mianwali, a constituency which he has won previous elections from, were also rejected for the NA-89 constituency on the aforementioned objection.
Furthermore, the ECP also rejected PTI Vice Chairman Qureshi's nomination papers from Multan's NA-150, PP-218, and Tharparkar's NA-214.
Meanwhile, former federal minister and PTI leader Hammad Azhar's nomination papers were rejected from PP-172.
