Pakistan's electoral commission has rejected former Prime Minister Imran Khan's nomination to run in two constituencies in the 2024 national elections, authorities and his party's media team announced on Saturday, news agency Reuters reported. Since his ouster as Prime Minister in April 2022, the 71-year-old former cricketer has been entangled in a labyrinth of political and judicial challenges. He hasn't been seen in public since he was sentenced to three years in prison in August for illegally selling state goods from 2018 to 2022.
Khan has been barred from running in the national elections set for Feb. 8 due to his corruption conviction, but he filed candidature papers for the polls on Friday, according to his media team.
The Election Commission of Pakistan stated in a list of rejected candidates from Lahore that Khan's candidature was rejected because he was not a registered voter in the seat and was "convicted by the court of law and has been disqualified."
According to his media team, the commission also rejected his nomination to run in the elections from his hometown of Mianwali.
Khan, largely regarded as the country's most popular leader, claims that he is being targeted by the country's strong military, which wishes to keep him out of the elections. This is denied by the military.
A high court last week declined to overturn Khan's ban from running in the elections.
Other top party members, including Shah Mehmood Qureshi, deputy chairman of Khan's party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI), have had their candidature papers rejected by the electoral commission in addition to Khan.
Meanwhile, weeks after a court reversed two graft convictions, the electoral commission accepted former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's nomination from two constituencies for the 2024 elections.
However, Sharif still needs a lifetime ban from holding public office lifted in him to run, therefore it remained unclear how his nomination was accepted. In January, a hearing on the prohibition will be place.
In 2017, the Supreme Court barred Sharif from competing in elections, declaring him dishonest for failing to disclose money from a firm held by his son.
Sharif, who returned home in October after four years in self-imposed exile in Britain, is running for a fourth term as prime minister in the February elections. His greatest task will be regaining his support base from Khan.
'Flimsy Ground': Imran Khan's PTI Slams Rejection Of Nomination Papers Of Ex-PM
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) slammed the top election authority on Saturday for rejecting candidature papers for its founder, Imran Khan, and many other party stalwarts on "flimsy grounds," PTI reported.
“Abducting proposers and seconders is a new normal in this part of the world, the current state of lawlessness is preposterous,” a PTI spokesperson stated following the rejection of Khan's and others' nomination papers by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) ahead of the February 8 general elections.
“Returning officers are accomplices and the reason why PTI requested ROs from the judiciary, not bureaucracy. Some group members may not be aware, but bureaucrats, including deputy commissioners, signing illegal restraining orders for PTI leadership have been appointed as ROs by the interim setup, adding more hostility to the already perpetuated situation,” he was quoted by PTI in its report.
PTI’s current chairman Gohar Khan posted on X: "Today, the first step towards general elections (scrutiny of nomination forms for general seats) is ending. But up and down the country, the state machinery is in full swing against PTI’s candidates, whose proposers and seconders or they are being openly harassed, assaulted and pushed back from ROs’ offices.”