Pakistan ex-PM Khan barred from election candidacy: party
The Hindu
Imran Khan and most of his supporters have been rejected as candidates for the February 8 election.
Jailed former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan and most of his supporters have been rejected as candidates for the February 8 election, party officials said Sunday after nominations for the ballot closed.
Khan has been in prison since August, facing trial over a slew of cases he insists have been orchestrated to prevent him from contesting the election as the figurehead of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
The former cricket star was found guilty of graft earlier this year, but a court suspended his three-year sentence and the conviction is being appealed.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) disqualified him from office over the conviction, but PTI turned in nomination papers for Khan last week regardless.
"Nomination papers of almost all national and provincial leaders of PTI, including Imran Khan, have been rejected," said PTI spokesman Raoof Hasan. "90 to 95% of our candidates' papers have been rejected."
Hasan told AFP candidates were being blocked as part of an "agenda" to prevent PTI from contesting the election in six weeks.
"All tactics are being tried for this purpose but, under any circumstances, we will not leave the political ground and will not boycott the elections," he said.
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