ISLAMABAD (Daily Point) — The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) received significant relief from the Supreme Court (SC) on Friday, as five of its candidates, including the party president Parvez Elahi, were granted permission to participate in the upcoming February 8 elections.

In addition to Elahi, the Supreme Court approved the appeals of PTI candidates Umer Aslam, Major (retd) Tahir Sadiq, Sanam Javaid Khan, and Shukat Basra against the decisions of returning officers to reject their nomination papers from different constituencies.

Parvez Elahi has been granted permission to contest the general election from the PP-32 constituency in the Gujarat district. The former Punjab chief minister had challenged the Lahore High Court’s decision, which upheld the Election Tribunal’s rejection of his nomination papers. Elahi, presently confined in Adiala Jail, filed a petition in the Supreme Court under Article 185(3) of the Constitution for leave to appeal against the LHC’s verdict.

The PTI president’s nomination papers were initially rejected from National Assembly constituency NA-64 (Gujrat-III) and Punjab Assembly’s constituency PP-34 (Gujrat-VIII).

A three-member bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, and Justice Athar Minallah, heard Elahi’s plea with Advocate Faisal Siddiqui representing him.

During the proceedings, Elahi’s counsel pointed out anomalies in the objections raised by rival candidates and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). Siddiqui emphasized the urgency of granting permission to his client to contest the elections in Gujarat, stating that they did not want any delays.

Justice Minallah expressed concern that voters should not be deprived of their right to vote, and Justice Shah highlighted the need for inclusion rather than exclusion in elections. The court declared the returning officer’s decision to reject Elahi’s nomination papers from PP-32 as invalid and allowed him to contest polls from the Gujarat provincial assembly seat.

Elahi withdrew appeals against the rejection of nomination papers from other constituencies. Objections raised against Elahi’s nomination papers included concealing of assets, non-disclosure of shares, non-compliance with rules, technical mistakes in documents, and submitting documents without verification from the oath commission.

Parvez Elahi, a senior PTI leader, was initially arrested on June 1 last year in a Rs70 million graft case related to the embezzlement of development funds for the Gujrat district. He has been behind bars since then, facing various charges, including money laundering and illegal appointments in the Punjab Assembly.

Apart from Elahi, the Supreme Court allowed PTI candidates Tahir Sadiq and Omer Aslam Awan to contest elections from NA-49 (Attock) and NA-87 (Khushab) constituencies, respectively. Sanam was permitted to contest polls from NA-119, NA-120, and PP-125, while Basra was cleared to fight elections from NA-163 (Bahawalnagar).