NA-133 by-polls: Election Tribunal rejects appeals of disqualified PTI candidates

• Returning Officer rejects nomination papers of both Jamshed Cheema and his wife Musarrat Jamshed Cheema.
• Cheema and his wife challenge the rejection of their nomination papers for the NA-133 by-election.
• PML-N leader Naseer Bhutta had challenged the nomination papers of the candidates, saying their proposer didn't belong to the same constituency.

LAHORE: The appeals of PTI leader Jamshed Iqbal Cheema and his wife Mussarat Jamshed Cheema — who challenged the decision of a returning officer against their nomination papers for NA-133 by-election — were rejected by an Election Appellate Tribunal on Friday.

The Election Appellate Tribunal, led by Justice Shahid Jameel Khan of the Lahore High Court (LHC), heard the appeals of the PTI candidates and announced the verdict.

Lawyers representing the returning officers and other respondents appeared before the court and submitted their arguments, while Mobinuddin Qazi and Rana Shakoor represented Cheema and his wife.

Cheema and his wife had challenged the decision of the Returning Officer who had rejected their nomination papers on the grounds that the proposer did not belong to the NA-133 constituency of Lahore.

The Election Appellate Tribunal upheld the decision of the returning officer, maintaining that their proposer had votes in NA-130, so they cannot become a proposer of NA-133 candidates.

It is pertinent to mention here that PML-N leader Naseer Bhutta had challenged the nomination papers of Cheema and his wife on the same grounds. He had asked the Returning Officer to reject their nomination papers for violating the law.

After hearing the arguments of both sides, the Returning Officer had rejected the nomination papers.

Cheema and his wife had challenged the rejection in the Appellate Tribunal two days ago.

Their counsels insisted that Jamshed Cheema’s nomination papers were in order as per the law and were rejected by the Returning Officer only on the grounds that his proposer was not from the NA-133 constituency.

They insisted the proposer actually belonged to the same constituency as his identity card and domicile carry an address from the area, and the local union council chairman also verified this.

However, the Election Appellate Tribunal, after hearing arguments from both sides, rejected the papers.

PTI candidates disqualified

On October 30, the Election Commission had announced the disqualification of both the candidates, The News reported.

Meanwhile, the Punjab government had asked the Election Commission to postpone the election on the basis of the ongoing protests by the proscribed Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) but the PML-N rejected this demand declaring it a planned move of the PTI to run away from the by-elections due to fear of defeat.

In a press conference after Cheema and his wife's disqualification, PML-N MNA Ali Pervaiz Malik said that after the rejection of the nomination papers, the PTI started making excuses.