Daughter not mentioned in nomination papers: IHC to take up plea for Imran’s disqualification on 20th

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) will take up the issue of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s disqualification as a lawmaker on the grounds of “concealing” his alleged daughter in his nomination papers on December 20.

IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq on December 9, 2022 had issued a pre-admission notice to the PTI chief and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in the petition of a citizen, Muhammad Sajid, asking their counsel to help the court to decide if the petition is maintainable.

The petitioner is seeking Imran’s disqualification as an MNA from NA-95 Mianwali-I, contending that all candidates contesting elections for either national or provincial assemblies are required to furnish an affidavit with respect to their credentials and assets. He said that one such information is about the children who are dependent on a candidate, and in this connection, Imran had wrongly mentioned two children including “Qasim Khan and Sulaiman Khan” and had omitted the third.

He claimed, “The respondent no 1 [Imran Khan] has deliberately and willfully failed to declare his daughter Tyrian White in the relevant columns of the nomination papers and the affidavit appended therewith, hence he is not sagacious, righteous, honest and a man of good character in terms of Article 62 of the Constitution.”

He also said that “Article 62 of the Constitution, as interpreted by various judgments of the superior courts, prescribes that a candidate shall only qualify to be elected as a member of the National Assembly if he is of good character and is not commonly known as one who violates Islamic Injunctions; and he has adequate knowledge of Islamic teachings and practices; obligatory duties prescribed by Islam as well as abstaining from major sins.”

The petitioner urged the court to summon the former prime minister and inquire about the reasons for the violation of Article 62 of the Constitution, which says, “a person shall not be qualified to be elected or chosen as a member of Parliament unless - he is sagacious, righteous, non-profligate, honest and ameen, there being no declaration to the contrary by a court of law”.

He also prayed before the court to question Imran for “submitting a false declaration and affidavit and as to why he should be allowed to be a member of the parliament and may not be de-seated in all accumulated consequences for the violation of the Constitution and the law.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022