By IANS
Islamabad : Former prime minister of Pakistan Mian Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz were finally out of the election race, as they have not challenged their disqualification, saying they would not seek justice from the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) judges.
Friday was the last day for filing appeals against the decisions of the returning officers pertaining to acceptance and rejection of nomination papers.
The election tribunal office in Lahore confirmed that they had not received any appeal from Nawaz and Shahbaz on the last day, The News reported.
However, the Sharif brothers have sent letters to the chief election commissioner to record their protest against the rejection of their papers, their lawyer Khwaja Haris said.
Citing reasons for sending letters to the CEC, Haris said the Sharif brothers considered the CEC as the only official who had not taken oath under the PCO.
Nawaz Sharif, in his letter, has complained that the returning officer had rejected his papers on the basis of incomplete and unverified record, Haris said.
Nawaz pointed out that his papers were accepted in 2002 when he was in exile but in 2007 his papers had been dismissed despite the fact that over the last five years circumstances had changed in his favour.
Shahbaz, in his letter, pointed out that it had never happened that a person was barred from contesting elections on the ground that a case stood was against him, Haris said.
He made the point that neither the People Representative Act 1976 nor constitution rendered such a person ineligible to participate in elections.
He said under the election law, a person who was convicted on the basis of “abscondence” could be disqualified, said Haris quoting Shahbaz.