A division bench of the Lahore High Court on Friday allowed former finance minister Ishaq Dar to contest election of senate being held today (Saturday) and dismissed an appeal challenging his candidature. Pakistan Peoples Party's candidate for senate Nawazish Ali Pirzada had assailed the decision of an appellate tribunal that allowed Dar to contest the senate election.
The petitioner's counsel Farooq Amjad Mir contended that an accountability court of Islamabad had declared Ishaq Dar an absconder for not attending proceedings against him in corruption references. He said the returning officer had rightly rejected the nomination papers of Dar, however, the appellate tribunal comprising a judge of the high court accepted his appeal against the rejection and allowed him to contest election. The counsel argued that an absconder could not be eligible to run for an election.
Opposing maintainability of the petition, Salman Aslam Butt argued that the petitioner did not raise his objections before the returning officer. The bench observed that the prima facie the petitioner was not an aggrieved party as he failed to challenge the nomination papers of the respondent before the returning officer. However, the bench said the petitioner could approach election tribunal for the required relief after the election and dismissed his appeal.
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