KARACHI - Nomination papers of eight Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) candidates were accepted on Thursday to contest the upcoming senate elections, out of the 28 received by the Provincial Election Commission (ECP) in Sindh.
PPP’s Rehman Malik, Saleem Mandviwala, Engineer Gianchand, Farooq H Naek and Sassui Palijo are among the candidates who are now entitled to contest senate election.  The provincial election commission started the scrutiny process of nomination papers of candidates contesting the upcoming senate election and the process will go on till Friday (today).
Speaking to a private TV channel, the provincial election commissioner SM Tariq Qadri said, “Today, is the first day and this process will continue till Friday evening.” According to ECP’s record, approximately 13 forms have been filed by candidates belonging to PPP, 12 by those of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), two by Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) and one by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
MQM has given tickets to Barrister Farough Nasim, Mian Ateeq, Babar Ghauri and Nighat Khatoon.  Simialrly, PML-F has given the party ticket to Imamuddin Shauqeen. Once the scrutiny is over, the candidate can file appeals against the rejection of nomination between February 23 and February 24. The dates for the disposal of the appeal have been fixed from February 26 to February 27.
The final date for the withdrawal of candidature is February 28 and the final candidate list will be published on the same day, allowing for polling to take place on March 5.
housing schemes in
Balochistan DISCUSSED
A meeting of the Senate’s Standing Committee on Housing and Works here Thursday discussed in detail the housing schemes in Balochistan.
The meeting chaired by Senator Shahi Syed and specially attended by Federal Minister for Housing and Works, Akram Durrani, extensively reviewed Prime Minister’s Low Income Housing Scheme in Quetta. Senators Suriya Amiruddin, Farhat Abbas, Shirala Malik, Saeed ul Hasan Mandokhel and Abdul Rauf were also present on the occasion.
Senior officials representing the Ministry of Housing and Works briefed the senators and the minister for housing and works about factors behind delay in maintenance and renovation of Federal Lodge number one, damaged in a blast in Quetta.
The committee members were informed that this delay was also causing accommodation related problems for federal government officers visiting the province. The committee members discussed matters related to acquisition of land in front of the river for Kuchlak Housing Project handed over by FC to Pak PWD for development.
A detailed briefing was also given by Estate Office regarding the total number of official residences owned by federal government in Quetta and those that are illegally occupied coupled with total amount outstanding against illegal occupants. The committee also sought details of action taken by Estate Office and the Ministry of Housing and Works for recovery of the outstanding amount.