Pakistan: Plea in Lahore High Court against Imran Khan contesting polls on 9 NA seats

A petition has been filed in Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan's decision to contest elections on nine National Assembly (NA) seats.

A petition has been filed in Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan's decision to contest elections on nine National Assembly (NA) seats. Dawn newspaper reported that Justice Shahid Jamil Khan will hear the case on Thursday.

The petition was filed by Advocate Mian Asif Mehmood, named the Federation of Pakistan through the Cabinet Division secretary, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar through the law secretary, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) through Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, and Imran as respondents in the case. Last week, Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had announced that by-elections on nine National Assembly (NA) seats will be held on September 25.

Last month, the ECP accepted 11 out of the 131 resignations tendered by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNAs, following the removal of the party chief from the office of the Prime minister earlier this year. Soon after the decision was taken, Imran Khan had announced his candidature for all the seats.

According to Dawn newspaper, the petition was filed today stated that it had become "a lacuna to contest election on multiple seats by the candidates in the general elections", highlighting that the issue needed to be addressed as it was a "very clear case of political exploitation". It pointed out that this phenomenon was legally "questionable" and the costs of an individual contesting multiple seats were "significant" in bypoll-related expenses that would be required if a candidate secured many seats.

The petitioner said he was filing the application on the basis of public importance/interest to get the ambiguity in the law removed for the "larger interest of the nation", adding that it needed to be heard in the "supreme interest of justice for the interest of the public at large". Furthermore, he requested the LHC to direct Imran not to contest any election of the parliament before the submission and acceptance of his resignation as an MNA.

The petition also called for a direction to be issued to the relevant respondents to amend the law so as to regulate the eligibility criteria of parliamentarians to contest the election. (ANI)

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