Pakistan’s election body rejects ex-PM Imran Khan’s nomination for 2024 polls

His media team said the commission had also rejected his nomination to contest the elections from his hometown, Mianwali.

Khan, who is widely seen as the country’s most popular leader, says he is being targeted by the powerful military, which wants to keep him out of the polls. The military denies this.

Last week, a high court refused to suspend Khan’s disqualification from contesting the elections.

In addition to Khan, the election commission has also rejected nomination papers submitted by other senior party members, including Shah Mehmood Qureshi, vice-chairman of Khan’s party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

Meanwhile, the election commission accepted former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s nomination from two constituencies for the 2024 elections, weeks after a court overturned two corruption convictions.

But Sharif still needs a life ban on holding any public office to be removed to qualify to stand, so it was not immediately clear how his nomination was accepted. A hearing on that ban will be held in January.

Sharif was banned from running in elections in 2017 by the Supreme Court, which declared him dishonest for not disclosing income from a company owned by his son.

Sharif, who arrived back home in October from four years of self-imposed exile in Britain, is bidding for a fourth premiership in the February elections. His biggest challenge will be to wrest back his support base from Khan.