34 file nomination papers for 12 Senate seats in Punjab

LAHORE: As many as 34 aspirants submitted their nomination papers for 12 Senate seats from Punjab on Thursday, while Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) finalised its candidates.

However, other parties including Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) are still in political dialogue to fetch maximum share from the province through forming coalitions.

Thursday was the last day for submission of nomination papers for Senate seats from Punjab which include seven general, two each for technocrats and women and one for minorities.

On generals seats, 21 candidates have submitted nomination papers, including Malik Shakeel Ahmad Aiwa, Shaheen Khalid Butt, Irfan Ahmad Khan Daha, Rana Mehmoodul Hassan, Mian Hamid Miraj, Rao Aneesur Rehman Khan, Shahzad Ali Khan, Muhammad Bilal Butt, Sarfraz Qureshi, Syed Asif Saeed Kirmani, Haroon Khan, Samiullah Chaudhry, Maqbool Ahmad, Musadik Masood Malik, Muhammad Sarwar, Zubair Gull, Usman Zai, Farooq Khan and others.

On two seats for women, five aspirants submitted their papers including Hina Rabbani Khar, Nuzhat Sadiq, Shaza Fatima Khawaja, Saadia Abbasi and Andleeb Abbas.

On two seats of technocrats, Muhammad Ishaq Dar, Muhammad Nawazish Ali Pirzada, Abdul Karim, Naseer Ahmad Bhutta and Malik Muhammad Asif Javed submitted their nomination papers.

On one seat for minorities, three aspirants have submitted their papers including Kamran Michael, William Michael and Victor Azariah.

PML-N’s final candidates from Punjab include: (general seats) Farooq Khan from Faisalabad, Asif Kirmani, Rana Maqbool, Haroon Akhtar, PML-N United States President Khalid Shaheen Butt and Zubair Gull. Sources said Musadik Malik would be a covering candidate from the PML-N.

For the women’s seats, Nuzhat Sadiq and Saadia Abbasi have been nominated. For the Technocrat seats, MNA from DG Khan and sitting Minister for Communication Hafiz Abdul Kareem and former federal finance minister Ishaq Dar has been pitched, while Naseer Bhutta, Shakeel Awan and Irfan Daha are their covering candidates.

The ECP would publish list of the nominated candidates by February 9. The last date for scrutiny of nomination papers will be February 12 and last date for filing of appeals against acceptance or rejection of nominations would be Feb 15.

The last date for disposal of appeals by the tribunal is Feb 17, while the last date for publication of revised list of candidates is Feb 18.

The last date for withdrawal of candidature is Feb 19, while polling would be held on March 3, 2018 in Provincial Assembly building, Lahore for Punjab.