LAHORE, Aug 11 (Express Tribune): Justice Shahid Jamil Khan of the Lahore High Court (LHC) dismissed on Thursday a petition challenging former prime minister Imran Khan's decision to contest by-elections on all nine vacant seats of the National Assembly.
As the proceedings commenced, Justice Khan asked whether the nomination papers had been submitted to the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) office, to this the counsel representing the petitioner argued that PTI chief Imran Khan had not submitted his nomination papers yet.
The court remarked that the matter at hand was "immature", adding that the petitioner should wait until the submission of the nomination papers and then file his objection with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) first and then approach the courts.
The petitioner's counsel, after observing the court's vision, decided to withdraw the petition. Subsequently, Justice Khan dismissed the petition after the counsel withdrew it.
The petitioner, Mian Asif Mehmood, Punjab president of the Amun Taraqqi Party, had requested the court to restrain the PTI chairman from contesting the by-elections on all nine seats in the "interest of the country".
He contended that the practice of a candidate contesting elections from multiple seats needed to be addressed because of it being a case of political exploitation.
He stated that the former premier had contested the general elections in 2018 on five seats and won all of them. He then vacated four seats and the ECP had to again conduct elections on them.
Several other leaders, including Aleem Khan and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, also contested elections from multiple seats, the petitioner maintained.
Meanwhile, Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan on Thursday strongly condemned the arrest of the director news of a private TV channel and the wife of Shahbaz Gill's assistant.
Following the arrest of Shahbaz Gill on Saturday, the ICT police also raided his assistant's home and maintained that the arrest was 'legal'.
Taking to his official Twitter handle, Imran maintained that the "imported government of cabal of crooks" is using fear and terror against the media and the people to "gain acceptance after being routed in Punjab".
He added that such actions are "further destabilising [the] country" and the only solution for the issues facing Pakistan are "fair and free elections".
Gill was arrested for sedition and inciting the public against state institutions, the government had confirmed on earlier this week.
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