Fawad gets SC nod to contest from NA-67

ISLAMABAD: A bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) information secretary Fawad Chaudhry to contest election from NA-67, Jhelum.

The apex court dismissed an election petition challenging the ruling of the Lahore High Court that gave the go-ahead to the PTI leader to take part in the electoral fray.

Rival candidate Syed Gohar Haider took Mr. Chaudhry to the top court, challenging his eligibility to contest the election.

Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed during the hearing remarked that the petitioner didn’t raise objections on the PTI candidate’s nomination papers at the time of their submission. The objections came after his papers were accepted, he added.

He observed that the petitioner instead of filing a new petition should have opted for an appeal challenging rejection of his objections.

On July 05, a bench of the LHC had set aside an appellate tribunal’s verdict barring Mr. Chaudhry from contesting election for life.

His nomination papers were rejected on an appeal filed by Justice and Democratic Party’s Fakhar Abbas Kazmi.

Kazmi objected that Mr. Chaudhry had not paid agricultural tax on his land holdings.

He had also stated that the PTI leader’s name on his identity card was listed as ‘Fawad Ahmad’.