Plea against Imran Khan for contesting on nine seats dismissed

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has dismissed a petition challenging Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s decision to contest elections on all nine vacant seats of the National Assembly (NA), ARY News reported on Thursday.

According to details, Justice Shahid Jamil Khan of the Lahore High Court (LHC) heard the petition challenging former prime minister Imran Khan’s decision to contest by-elections on all nine vacant seats of the National Assembly (NA).

During the proceedings, Justice Shahid Khan asked whether the nomination papers had been submitted to the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) office. To which the counsel representing the petitioner replied in negative.

Terming the matter ‘immature’, the court said the petitioner should wait until the submission of the nomination papers and then file his objection with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) first and then approach the courts.

The petitioner’s counsel, after observing the court’s vision, decided to withdraw the petition. Subsequently, Justice Khan dismissed the petition after the counsel withdrew it.

The petitioner, Mian Asif Mehmood, Punjab president of the Amun Taraqqi Party, had requested the court to restrain the PTI chairman from contesting the by-elections on all nine seats in the “interest of the country”.

It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan announced to contest by-polls from all nine seats, vacated after the NA speaker accepted PTI MNAs’ resignation.

According to the ECP schedule, the by-polls on the nine National Assembly seats would be contested on September 25.

On July 29, the accepted resignations of 11 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNAs had been received by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).