ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) secured major relief from the top court on Friday as three of its candidates, including incarcerated party president Parvez Elahi, were granted permission to contest the upcoming February 8 elections.

The Supreme Court on Friday approved appeals of PTI candidates Umer Aslam, Major (retd) Tahir Sadiq and Elahi against returning officer decisions to reject their nomination papers from different constituencies.

Elahi has been allowed to contest the general election from the PP-32 constituency of Gujarat district.

The former Punjab chief minister had approached the Supreme Court to contest the upcoming general elections and challenged the verdict of the Lahore High Court (LHC), upholding the Election Tribunal’s decision of rejecting his nomination papers.

The PTI president, presently confined in Adiala Jail, filed a petition in the apex court under Article 185(3) of the Constitution for leave to appeal against the judgment dated January 13, 2024, passed by the LHC in his petition.

Elahi nomination papers were 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.

More to follow..