LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday dismissed a plea demanding cancellation of nomination papers filed by former finance minister Ishaq Dar for Senate elections on March 3 (tomorrow).
A divisional bench, comprising Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh and Justice Jawad Hasan, of the LHC heard the petition filed by Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) leader Nawabzada Nawazish Ali.
The PPP leader adopted a stance that the former finance minister has been declared a proclaimed offender by the accountability court, hence he is ineligible to contest Senate polls.
In the petition, he contended that the decision by an appellate tribunal of the LHC on Dar’s appeal against the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was breach of law after granting him permission to take part in the Senate polls.
The petitioner pleaded with the bench to pass injunction against Dar’s nomination papers and debar him from contesting the Senate elections.
Dar’s lawyer argued that the petitioner hadn’t approached the Returning Officer over objections to his client’s nomination papers, thus the petition is inadmissible.
The bench then dismissed the petition filed by the PPP leader and allowed former finance minister Ishaq Dar to take part in the Senate elections.
Previously in February, the ECP had rejected Dar’s nomination papers for not providing verified declaration of election expenses. However, the court had then allowed Dar to contest the elections after he filed a plea.
Leave a Comment