Islamabad: In a setback to bigwigs, Pakistan's election commission on Tuesday rejected the nomination papers of former Prime Ministers Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Pervez Musharraf and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan for the NA-53 constituency of Islamabad.
The nomination papers of Abbasi and his covering candidate Sardar Mehtab Khan for NA-53 were rejected by the returning officer after the candidates failed to fill the affidavit as per the requirements, Dawn reported.
According to the returning officer, Abbasi had not submitted complete tax returns with his documents either. The candidates have vowed to challenge the decision in the election tribunal on Wednesday.
Khan's nomination papers for the same constituency were rejected on account of being incomplete.
His nomination papers were challenged earlier this month by Pakistan Justice and Democratic Party candidate Abdul Wahab Baloch, who contended that Khan did not fulfil the criterion under articles 62 and 63 on the issue of Sita White and her daughter Tyrian.
Although the returning officer rejected Baloch's objections against Khan's candidature, he turned down the PTI chief's papers saying he had submitted an incomplete affidavit as approved by the Supreme Court.
The officer said that Khan had not filled a column in the affidavit in which he was required to describe his performance as a Member of National Assembly (MNA). Khan had served as MNA from NA-56 Rawalpindi.
There had been resentment in his constituency as he allegedly never visited it during his five-year term despite living in Banigala only a few kilometres away, the paper said.
Khan is also contesting from four other cities including Karachi, Lahore, Mianawali and Bannu. His nomination was accepted from three places but rejected from Mianawali on technical grounds.
The nomination papers of Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf was also rejected by the returning officer on the ground that he was barred for life from contesting elections by the Peshawar High Court in 2013.
Musharraf, 74, had filed his nomination papers from the northern district of Chitral (NA-1) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The ex-dictator had filed a plea in the Supreme Court against the ban imposed on him to contest elections by the Peshawar High Court in 2013.
The apex court had allowed him to file his nomination paper on the conditions that he appears in person on June 13.
Last week, the Supreme Court withdrew the permission it conditionally granted to the ex-dictator after he failed to appear before it in person, and postponed the hearing in the case for the indefinite period.
The apex court also left the matter of nomination papers to the returning officers.
Returning Officer Muhammad Khan rejected Musharraf's nomination papers citing court's order, officials said.
Meanwhile, Musharraf's lawyer moved an application to withdraw his nomination papers for the NA-247 constituency in Karachi, where he was summoned by an election officer to appear by the evening.
All aspirants can file an appeal against the rejection of their nominations by June 22, and election tribunal will decide the appeals by June 27.
The revised lists of candidates will be published on June 28 whereas the last date for withdrawal of candidature is June 29. The final list of contesting candidates is scheduled to be published on June 30.
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