ALLENTOWN, Pa. — The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania has granted a petition to set aside the nomination of a local candidate, removing her name from the May 19 Democratic primary ballot.

Taiba Sultana’s name will be removed from the ballot for Pennsylvania’s 18th Senatorial District, according to a news release.

Attorney Raymond Lahoud represented four electors — Patricia M. Hitzel, Celeste Lillian Dee, Patricia Joan Bruno, and Pamela A. Panto — who filed objections to Sultana’s nomination petition with the court.

In a decision issued April 1, the court found that Sultana’s petition contained a “material defect” that misleads voters, specifically her failure to disclose her occupation beyond listing “self-employed,” officials said.

The court concluded the omission was legally insufficient under the Pennsylvania Election Code and warranted setting aside the petition.

In the petition, the objectors maintained that marking “self-employed” without further information has the potential to mislead electors.

They contended that a candidate may be either unemployed or self-employed in an occupation that falls short of the values voters seek, and that Sultana specified she was self-employed to be perceived in a “more complimentary manner,” according to the court order.

The court agreed, holding:”By merely declaring that she is self-employed, without specifying the occupation in which she is self-employed, Candidate deprived electors of information the General Assembly and the Department of State deemed sufficiently material to appear at the top of each Nomination Petition page while electors apply their signatures. . . . Our Supreme Court proclaimed that the statutory purpose behind the requirement is that Candidate supply for the benefit of electors his [or her] present occupation or profession. The effect of Candidate’s response is no different than if she had simply put employed.”

The court’s order directs that Sultana’s name be removed from the Democratic primary ballot for the upcoming election.

“This decision underscores the importance of transparency and strict compliance with Pennsylvania’s Election Code,” Lahoud said. “The integrity of the electoral process depends on candidates providing voters with accurate and meaningful information. Today’s ruling affirms that those standards will be enforced.”

Sultana announced Wednesday that she will pursue an expedited appeal to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania following a Commonwealth Court decision removing her from the Democratic primary ballot. 

Sultana’s campaign says that the ruling was based solely on the interpretation of the term “self-employed” listed as Sultana’s occupation on her nomination petition, according to a news release. 

“This decision is deeply disappointing because it removes a candidate who

met every substantive requirement to be on the ballot,” said Sultana. “There

was no fraud, no wrongdoing, and the Court confirmed that we had more than

enough valid signatures. This comes down to a technical interpretation of a

single word.”

Sultana’s campaign will file an expedited appeal and continue outreach across the district, officials said. 

“We are not backing down,” she added. “We are fighting to ensure that voters – not technicalities – decide this election.”