LAHORE/PESHAWAR: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Wednesday rejected the nomination papers of PTI leaders – Azam Swati and Murad Saeed from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and cleared a total of 21 candidates for contesting Senate elections for 12 Senate seats from Punjab during scrutiny.
The ECP carried out the scrutiny process of the nomination papers filed for the Senate elections as per schedule and cleared the nominations of eight candidates for technocrat seat from KP while the papers of PTI leader Azam Swati for technocrat seat were rejected.
The ECP also approved the nomination papers of 16 candidates including Niaz Ahmed and a son of PML-N leader Amir Muqam for general seats from KP province.
While the nomination papers of PTI leader Murad Saeed, former Chief Minsiter Mehmood Khan and Khurram Zeeshan for general seats from the KP were rejected.
The ECP also accepted the nomination papers of six female candidates for the women reserved seats from the province.
In Punjab, 28 candidates had filed nomination papers with Provincial Election Commissioner Aijaz Anwar Chohan, who also served as the returning officer for the Senate Election, for 12 Senate seats including seven general, two reserved for women, two for technocrats/ulema, and one reserved for non-Muslims, from the province.
As per the lists of qualified and rejected candidates, issued by the provincial election commissioner on Wednesday, the nomination papers of 21 candidates were accepted, while papers of seven candidates were rejected.
The nomination papers of 12 candidates were accepted for the seven general seats after scrutiny. The candidates are: Walid Iqbal, Shahzad Waseem, Muhammad Tallal Badar, Ejaz Hussain Minhas, Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi, Ahad Khan Cheema, Pervaiz Rashid, Nasir Mehmood, Hamid Khan, Raja Nasir Abbas, Musadik Masood Malik, and Omar Sarfraz Cheema.
For the two technocrat seats, Muhammad Aurangzeb, Mustafa Ramday, Yasmin Rashid, and Musadik Masood Malik were allowed to contest. Faiza Ahmad, Anusha Rehman Ahmad Khan, and Bushra Anjum Butt were allowed to contest for the two women-reserved seats.
For the one minority seat, the nomination papers of Asif Ashiq and Khalil Tahir were declared valid. Meanwhile, the nomination papers of seven candidates were rejected for the Senate elections.
The nomination papers of Mian Najeeb-ud-Din Awaisi, Irfan Ahmad Khan Daha, Sayed Zulifkar Abbas Bukhari, and Khawaja Habibur Rehman were rejected for general seats. The nomination papers of Surriya Naseem and Sanam Javed Khan were rejected for women-reserved seats, whereas the nomination papers of Tariq Javed were rejected for the minority seat.
Polling for the 12 Senate seats from Punjab will be held on April 2 in the provincial assembly. According to the schedule, issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan, the last date for filing appeals against the decisions of the RO about acceptance/rejection of nomination papers would be March 21.
