ISLAMABAD, 4 FEB

Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has disqualified Shah Mahmood Qureshi from contesting elections for five years. The announcement comes days after a special court, established under the Official Secrets Act, awarded Qureshi 10 years imprisonment in the high-profile cypher case along with Imran Khan.

The disqualification of Qureshi, 67, comes five days before the 8 February general elections, which Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party is contesting despite a state crackdown and without its famous election symbol, the bat.

Citing the special court's judgement dated 30 January, 2024, the ECP said that any convicted individual, in accordance with the Constitution and the law, cannot participate in elections.

“As a consequence, Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi has become disqualified under Article 63(1)(h) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan read with Section 232 of the Elections Act, 2017.”

The cipher case pertains to a piece of paper, purported to be a diplomatic cable -- the cipher -- that Khan had waved at a public rally on 27 March, 2022, and naming the US, had claimed that it was ‘evidence’ of an “international conspiracy” to topple his government.

The case was filed against Khan, 71, and Qureshi on 15 August ,2023 by the Federal Investigation Agency, which accused both of violating the secrecy laws while handling the cable sent by the Pakistan embassy in Washington in March 2022.

The lack of enthusiasm from smaller parties has left the polls looking like a three-way fight among the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).