President Sardar Akhtar Mengal of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) was granted permission by the Supreme Court on Monday to run in the general elections scheduled for February 8 from Quetta’s NA-264 constituency.
Yasir Ahmad, a rival candidate for Mengal’s seat, filed a plea against the acceptance of Mengal’s nomination papers. However, a three-member bench of the supreme court led by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa dismissed the argument and cleared Mengal, the leader of the BNP-M, to run in the upcoming elections.
A Returning Officer (RO) in Khuzdar denied Mengal’s nomination papers last month due to his purported offshore firm. On the other hand, the leader of BNP-M called the RO’s ruling a “well-planned conspiracy.”
The Mengal, meanwhile, appealed the RO’s ruling to the election tribunal.The Baloch leader received relief on January 5 from the election tribunal when his candidacy papers for the elections scheduled for February 8 were approved.
Meanwhile, one of his rivals appealed the election tribunal’s ruling in this respect to the supreme court, which rendered a decision in Mengal’s favor today.
He had already declared that if the electoral tribunal rejected the nomination papers, his party would take the matter to the “court of the masses.”
The ECP, on the other hand, plans to conduct free, fair, and peaceful general elections on time.
The ECP has designated about 51% of the polling places as “sensitive” for the general elections that will take place on February 8.
