An election tribunal on Sunday reserved its decision on an appeal against the returning officer’s rejection of nomination papers submitted by former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan for the upcoming general elections.

Justice Chaudhry Abdul Aziz of the tribunal set up at the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court will announce his verdict on January 10. Imran Khan was represented by Barrister Ali Zafar.

On Sunday, Justice Aziz heard Imran Khan’s appeal against the rejection of his papers from Mianwali’s NA-89 constituency. His counsel, Barrister Ali Zafar, requested for the suspension of the returning officer's decision.

At the beginning of the hearing, Ali Zafar questioned if the court would decide what constitutes moral depravity, adding that it differed from case to case.

The judge remarked that the definition of immorality did not exist in any law.

Ali Zafar maintained that an RO could not decide whether the case was about moral depravity or not, adding that evidence was required to determine whether a person was eligible for election or not. The RO did not mention any such thing in the case of Imran Khan, and asked for providing reference from the 2018 case of Khawaja Asif.

Justice Abdul Aziz remarked that in the case of Khawaja Asif, the salary was mentioned and asked if the details of items taken from the Toshakhana were mentioned. The court was not discussing the merits of the Toshakhana case here, and asked again if the details of the money earned by selling the Toshakhana were mentioned.

Ali Zafar responded that everything was told to the returning officer, adding that after the suspension of Imran Khan’s sentence in the Toshakhana case, Article 63(1)(h) was not applicable. The returning officer said the decision has been taken by the Election Commission, which did not decide about moral turpitude.

The tribunal then said it would pronounce its decision on the appeal on January 10.

Ali Zafar's conversation with the media

Later, talking to the media, Ali Zafar said that the court heard the appeal in great detail and reserved its decision. The RO had rejected the nomination papers of Imran Khan under Article 63(1)(h), which he did not have the authority to do.

The lawyer further said that no one could be disqualified unless three conditions were met, adding that a punishment under the Elections Act had nothing to do with morality. Imran Khan’s sentence had been suspended in the Toshakhana case and even there, Article 63(1)(h) did not apply.