Elections 2024: 6,449 candidates stand eligible for NA seats, says ECP

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday issued details of the total number of candidates who submitted nomination papers for the general elections slated for February 8, 2024, as well as the number of nomination papers rejected and accepted by the commission.

The apex electoral body approved nomination papers of 6,449 candidates, including 6,094 male and 355 female candidates, for National Assembly seats from Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and the federal capital.

The papers of 1,024 candidates, including 934 men and 90 women, for NA seats have been rejected by the returning officers (ROs) during the scrutiny process.

A total of 7,473 candidates filed nomination papers, including 445 women for the NA seats.

The ROs appointed by the electoral body approved 16,262 nomination papers for the four provincial assemblies, out of the documents submitted by 18,478 candidates, including 17,670 male and 808 female.

Overall, nomination papers of 22,711 candidates for NA and four provincial assemblies seats have been approved, the ECP said adding that 21,684 of them are men and 1,027 women. A total of 25,951 candidates submitted papers.

The commission said ROs repudiated the nomination papers of 3,240 candidates from national and provincial assemblies, including 3,015 male candidates and 225 females.

Nomination papers of 2,216 candidates, including 2,081 men and 135 women, failed to get approval of ROs for provincial assemblies.

The five-day scrutiny stage which commenced on December 25, saw major setbacks for political bigwigs such as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan, party’s senior leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi, and others as the electoral body rejected their nomination papers filed from different constituencies.

However, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) got a major boost as their senior leadership including Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz, Shehbaz Sharif, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and others succeeded in securing ECP’s approval for their nomination papers.

Those whose nomination papers got rejected can still appeal the top electoral body's decision by January 3. The appeals will be decided upon by the ECP's Appellate Tribunal by January 10, followed by subsequent publication of the revised list of candidates on January 11.