An appellate tribunal of the Lahore High Court (LHC) declared the returning officers’ decision on the nomination papers of PTI’s Umair Niazi for NA-89 and 90 as void.

The appellate tribunal of the Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi bench declared Umair Niazi, a covering candidate for the PTI’s founder, eligible to contest the election.

The ROs had rejected the nomination paper of Umair Niazi from both constituencies.

Must Read: Election candidates head to tribunals against RO verdicts on nominations

The process of filing nomination papers for general elections has been completed and now candidates have started filing appeals against the decisions of returning officers (ROs) against their candidatures.

The respective appellate tribunals will decide on the appeals by January 10 and election symbols allotted to the candidates on January 13. As per the election commission schedule, the scrutiny of nomination papers for seats reserved for women, and minorities will be held till January 13.

The hearing of appeals against acceptance and rejection of nomination papers is underway.

The LHC has established nine tribunals. So far, a hearing on the circular appeal against the approval of the nomination papers of Afazl Minsha from Diska PP-51 was conducted wherein the Appellate Tribunal has issued notices and sought answers.

In Lahore, no appeal has been filed yet against the rejection of the papers of former chairman PTI, Hamad Azhar, and Yasmin Rashid.

An appeal has been filed in the Election Tribunal against the approval of Nawaz Sharif's papers from NA-130, by the head of Pakistan Awami Mahaz—Ishtiaq Chaudhary.

The appeal stated that the Supreme Court had disqualified Nawaz Sharif for life and PMLN supremo was not eligible to contest the election but the Returning Officer (RO) approved the papers of Nawaz Sharif contrary to the facts. Hence, Nawaz Sharif's nomination papers should be rejected and declared ineligible.

In Karachi, appeals against the decisions of the returning officers have started in Sindh High Court.

Justice Arshad Hussain refused to hear the appeal of PTI candidate Firdous Shamim Naqvi, then the second bench heard the appeal of Firdous Shamim Naqvi wherein the court issued a notice to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the Returning Officer (RO) for charge-notification. The appeal was filed on behalf of the PTI's Firdous Shamim and Mazhar Ali Advocate.

Firdous Shamim's nomination papers were rejected by the returning officer from NA-236 while independent candidate Mazhar Ali's nomination papers from PS 86 were rejected.

A case hearing of the appeal of independent candidate Mazhar Junejo from PS-86 against the decision of the Returning Officer (RO) and the court issued notices to the ECP and RO for January 4. The Returning Officer (RO) had rejected the nomination papers of Mazhar Junejo. Junejo prayed in his appeal that RO declared that his proposer did not belong to the concerned constituency.

PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Zain Qureshi have filed appeals against the decisions of the Returning Officers (ROs) NA 214 Umarkot.

PTI leader Halim Adil Shaikh filed appeals against the rejection of the papers in NA 238.

As per the ECP, 18,478 candidates submitted their nomination papers for the provincial assemblies
while the nomination papers of 2,216 candidates were rejected in four provinces, and the nomination papers of 16,262 candidates were approved for the seats of four provincial assemblies.