KARACHI: Pakistan’s election body on Saturday rejected former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s nomination to contest the 2024 national elections, the Election Commission body said.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief filed his papers to contest from his hometown Mianwali.
Khan was jailed this year in August in the cipher case, which involved an alleged violation of the Official Secret Act. It was alleged that the cricketer-turned-politician disclosed a secret diplomatic cable sent by Pakistan’s Washington embassy in March.The 71-year-old former cricket star has been embroiled in a string of political and legal battles ever since he was ousted as prime minister in April 2022.
The Supreme Court judges, in a written court order, said they could not find “sufficient incriminating material” which could establish that Khan leaked state secrets to benefit a foreign power.
The order said Khan’s release on bail “during the period of elections would ensure ‘genuine elections’ and thus enable the people to exercise the right to express their will effectively and meaningfully. There are no exceptional circumstances to decline the concession of bail.”
However, Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said he remains incarcerated over numerous separate graft cases, with a scant chance that he will released from the prison to contest elections.
Pakistan Election Commission had received a total of 28,626 nomination papers from candidates who showed interest in contesting the upcoming general elections scheduled for February 8, 2024.
As per the data shared by the ECP, a total of 459 and 1,365 nomination papers have been received by the electoral body for the reserved seats in the national and provincial legislatures, respectively.
The top electoral body will issue the list of candidates on January 11, with candidates having the option to withdraw until January 12, i.e., before the ECP allots electoral symbols on January 13.
