The apex court deserves a lot of praise for allowing the jailed president of a seemingly ‘moth-eaten’ Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chaudhry Parvez Illahi to contest the Feb 8 forthcoming general elections from provincial assembly (PP-32) constituency of Gujrat, Punjab, setting aside a high court verdict.

No doubt, this development will inject a kind of booster to the rudderless PTI’s election campaign in Punjab, the most important province of the country in terms of population and the number of National Assembly seats.

This Chaudhry of Gujrat, who served the province as chief minister on different occasions in the past, had filed his nominations for the general election. According to media reports, his papers were rejected by the returning officers. The Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP’s) decision was later upheld by both the relevant election tribunal and the Lahore High Court.

Although nothing could be forecast about the result of the upcoming contest on this seat, this decision of the apex court has, in my view, certainly helped boost an ailing Chaudhry’s electoral prospects to the sheer chagrin of the Sharifs of Lahore and his Chaudhry cousins of Gujrat alike.

Moreover, this development will somehow ease PTI’s concerns about what it says the lack of a level playing field.

Tariq Waseem Wattoo (Gujrat)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024