Despite roadblocks on his way to running in the upcoming general elections, disqualified Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan had his nomination papers submitted from Mianwali, his home constituency, on Friday.
Imran Khan had his nomination papers submitted for the National Assembly’s NA-89 constituency. PTI leader Umar Bodla appeared on the former prime minister’s behalf.
The PTI founder, a 70-year-old former international cricket star, has been at the centre of a political crisis since he was ousted in a parliamentary no-confidence vote in April 2022.
The cricketer-turned-politician was sent to jail for three years on August 5 after being found guilty of selling state gifts during his 2018-22 tenure as prime minister — the charges he denies.
Khan is seeking to overturn that conviction, which has barred him from contesting elections for five years, by filing a plea in the Islamabad High Court, but it was rejected, so his party has decided to move the Supreme Court.
In a separate victory for his legal team, they managed to get him bail from the apex court earlier in the day, but that does not mean he is leaving jail any time soon as he was arrested in two more cases during his incarceration.
