ISLAMABAD: Former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s nomination papers for the upcoming general elections were filed on Saturday by his lawyers in the eastern city of Lahore, where he plans to contest for the National Assembly seat from the NA-122 constituency.

Khan has been embroiled in a slew of legal cases since his ouster from power in a no-confidence vote in April last year, which he alleges are designed to prevent him and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party from participating in national polls.

Currently incarcerated in a high-security prison in Rawalpindi and facing trial on charges of leaking state secrets, the ex-premier’s eligibility to contest the elections remains uncertain.

Nevertheless, he also filed his nomination papers a day earlier for the February elections from his hometown of Mianwali, as the country nears the national polls.

“Former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s nomination papers have been submitted from Lahore,” confirmed the PTI party in a message, accompanied by an image of the receipt for his documents. “Imran Khan’s lawyers, Rai Muhammad Ali and Umar Talib, handled the submission of the nomination papers.”

Local media reports indicate that Khan signed the papers in Rawalpindi prison before they were transported to Lahore by his legal team.

These reports also quote Ali stating that Khan intends to contest the national polls from Mianwali, Lahore and Islamabad.

Amid political and legal challenges, the former prime minister’s PTI party is grappling with the loss of its election symbol, the cricket bat.

The PTI announced on Saturday its plan to legally challenge the Election Commission of Pakistan’s decision to remove the party’s symbol in court the coming week.