PTI suffers blow as Imran's nominations from Lahore, Mianwali rejected

Lahore: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan's nomination papers were rejected from National Assembly (NA) constituencies Lahore and his home city, Mianwali, media reports said on Saturday, citing officials of the provincial Election Commission (EC).

The former Prime Minister had filed his nomination papers from Lahore's NA-112 and Mianwali's NA-89 constituencies ahead of the upcoming polls slated for February 8, 2024.

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, Geo News reported.

"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, Geo News reported.

"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 due to the same reason.

Furthermore, the EC 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, the media outlet reported.