CHAKWAL/CHINIOT/ HAFIZABAD – Many prominent names may not be listed with the Election Commission of Pakistan as candidates for the upcoming polls due to disqualification or rejection of their nomination papers over certain grounds, according to reports received from different stations on Thursday.
PML-N leader Ayaz Amir’s nomination papers for NA-60 (Chakwal) have been rejected on objections from a local press club office-bearer who had submitted that his (Amir’s) columns were in conflict with the ideology of Pakistan. The N-League leader confirmed his rejection, saying some journalists had raised objections to two of his columns, which, he claimed, were purely his personal opinion. His nomination papers have been referred back to the election commission. Amir is learnt to have decided on filing a review appeal today (Friday).
Meanwhile, the election commission disqualified former PML-Q leader Faisal Saleh Hayat and politician Syeda Abida Hussain’s son Abid Imam for election to the constituency of NA-87 (Chiniot) over the charge of water theft. Hayat had filed his nomination as an independent candidate and Imam as a PPP candidate. Imam had filed an application against Hayat that resulted in disqualification of both of them.
Nomination papers of Muhammad Arshad Tarar, Akhtar Tarar, Asmat Ullah Mangat and Chaudhry Nasarullah – candidates for NA 102 (Hafizabad) – have also been turned down for carrying certain discrepancies. Nominations of PPP’s Muzaffar Noor for NA-166 (Arifwala) and PTI’s Sheikh Muhammad Tariq for PP-230 (Arifwala) have also reportedly been rejected.
Notably, PPP’s Sohail Malik has raised objections to PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif’s nomination for NA-120, submitting the former premier was involved in the Asghar Khan case. Separately, Afzaal Baath has objected to former Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif’s nomination for NA-129.
Nominations of PPP’s Khursheed Shah for NA-199 (Sukkur) and PS-04 could not be approved due to the objection that he did conceal facts about his assets. Moreover, dual citizenship objections have been raised against Nabeel Gabol of MQM for his nomination for NA-248 by Jamaat-e-Islami.
Academic credentials of former federal minister Sheikh Waqas Akram have been declared forged. Akram called it a conspiracy crafted by HEC chief Javed Leghari. Also, University of the Punjab has declared degree of former PML-Q MPA Amina Ulfat fake. She had tampered with her BA result intimation card. Mukesh Kumar Chawla, a PPP leader, has also come under the election commission radar as his matriculation and intermediate certificates have been found fake.
Another PPP candidate, Nawab Hayatullah Tarin, has been rejected for NA-155 (Lodhran). Nomination papers of Malik Saifullah Awan, Mudassar Ali Rana, Muhammad Usman and Muhammad Javed for PP-122 and PP-125 (Sialkot) have been turned down. Rana Muhammad Waqas is also rejected for being an underage candidate. Meanwhile, Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat chief Maulana Muhammad Ahmad Ludhianvi has been cleared for NA-89 (Jhang) after scrutiny of his nomination papers. Meanwhile, a decision on nomination papers of outgoing MNA Saira Afzal Tarar, her father Afzal Hussain Tarar of the PML-N and Chaudhry Shaukat Ali Bhatti, an independent candidate, has been deferred until April 6.
Nomination papers of Atiqur Rehman, Dr Habibullah Cheema of JI, Akram Mujahid, Arshad Mehind of the PPP, Malik Nasir Ayub, Chaudhry Muhammad Ilyas, Chaudhry Riaz Ahmad Tarar, Hajan Allah Rakhi, Rai Fayyaz Ahmad and Usman Khizar Mangat of the PPP, Muhammad Younas Hanjra, Iftikhar Ahmad Ansari, Rafaqat Jaan Ghazali and Sajid Gondal have been accepted without any objection.