The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday allowed former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to unconditionally take part in the upcoming general elections from the NA 51 constituency in Rawalpindi.
The permission was given by the court in its final decision in a petition filed by Ashraf against the rejection of his nomination papers by an election tribunal.
The Rawalpindi constituency includes the Gujjar Khan village which is Ashraf’s native village.
During the hearing of the petition on April 18, the court had given provisional green light for Ashraf to contest the elections, ordering the Election Commission of Pakistan to include the name of the former prime minister in the list of valid candidates.On April 7, the RO for NA 51 had rejected the nomination papers of Ashraf. Subsequently, an election tribunal upheld the RO’s decision and dismissed an appeal filed by Ashraf on April 15, in light of objections raised by a former union nazim of Gujjar Khan.
A group of lawyers including Farooq H Naek, Sardar Latif Khan Khosa, Muhammad Ahsan Bhoon and president of LHC bar association Abid Saqi represented the former prime minister before the bench comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Syed Mazhar Ali Akbar Naqvi.