Lahore HC affirms Abbasi can contest elections

The Lahore High Court on Thursday set aside an appellate tribunals verdict disqualifying former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi from contesting elections for life and barring him from contesting the upcoming National Assembly polls\\ from his native Rawalpindi-I constituency.

During the hearing, the high court had allowed Abbasi to contest the election from Murree on July 25 by staying the ruling of the Punjab Election Appellate Tribunal, Geo News reported.

The tribunal had disqualified him after holding him guilty of "concealment of facts". It had accepted petitioner Masood Ahmed Abbasi's contention that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader had tampered with the nomination process.

However, the high court had stayed the disqualification verdict.

Abbasi had pleaded that the tribunal overstepped its jurisdiction as it only had powers to either accept or reject nomination papers and lacked the authority to disqualify lawmakers for life.

During Wednesday's hearing, the high court warned Abbasi against making anti-judiciary remarks that "were harming and destroying the system".

The high court also allowed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry to contest from Jhelum's NA-67 constituency.

--IANS

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