On Saturday, Pakistani election officials disqualified former prime minister Imran Khan from running in the parliamentary election scheduled for February. He will file an appeal, according to his attorneys.
Khan is incarcerated for a three-year term related to corruption and is facing numerous more allegations, which makes it challenging for him to seek public office. Nevertheless, encouraged by an August ruling by an appeals court to erase his criminal conviction, he proceeded to submit candidacy paperwork.
Documents claim that election officials rejected Khan’s candidacy due to his conviction and his alleged constitutional disqualification. They also disapproved of the candidacies of his former Cabinet colleagues.
The rulings dealt a new setback to Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, which has been the target of an ongoing crackdown by the government for several months.
The most well-liked opposition figure in the nation is the 71-year-old former cricket player.
After his political rivals in Parliament passed a no-confidence motion, he was removed from office in April 2022. Governmental organizations have been suing him in court ever since.
Azhar Siddique, his attorney, claimed that the Election Commission’s prejudice was revealed by the denial. He held Khan’s disqualification accountable to “invisible forces” and the commission.
Rai Muhammad Ali, one of his other attorneys, called the denial of Khan’s documents an injustice to Pakistan.
Ali declared, “We want transparent elections.” “These circumstances are purposefully set up to throw off the election. Everybody is afraid. We won’t allow them to go away.
