ECP sends 19,500 candidates’ data for scrutiny

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday said that the process of scrutiny of nomination papers filed by candidates for forthcoming general elections was underway and data of over 19,500 candidates had been shared with the related agencies.

The Election Commission said that details, contained in nomination papers were shared with the NAB, Nadra, FBR and the State Bank of Pakistan through an online system, having its centre at the Election Commission Secretariat here. So far, verification of about 10,000 nomination papers has been done with the help of online data scrutiny system and these nomination papers have been forwarded to the returning officers concerned for further action. Hundreds of candidates, including Manzoor Wattoo, Haroon Bilour, Hina Rabbani Khar, Faisal Wada and Amanat Ali are among those, who either have to pay back bank loans worth hundreds of millions or their spouses.

A total of 21,482 nomination papers have been filed by candidates across the country for general elections, including those for the National Assembly and the four provincial assemblies, including reserved seats for women and non-Muslims.

According to the figures released by the Election Commission of Pakistan, 6,063 candidates are contesting for the 342 seats of the National Assembly.

They include 5,473 candidates for general seats, 436 for seats reserved for women and 154 candidates for non-Muslim seats. There are 2,700 candidates in the field for the National Assembly and 6,747 for Provincial Assembly from Punjab, including Islamabad; 1346 for National Assembly and 3,626 for Provincial Assembly from Sindh; 992 for National Assembly and 1920 for Provincial Assembly from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including Fata; and in Balochistan 435 candidates are contesting for National Assembly and 1400 for Provincial Assembly seats.

Moreover, a total of 436 people have filed nomination papers for the seats reserved for women in the National Assembly. They include 236 candidates from Punjab, 76 from Sindh, 88 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 36 from Balochistan.

A total of 1255 candidates are in the electoral arena to contest for reserved seats for women in provincial assemblies. They are; 665 from Punjab, 213 from Sindh, 262 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 116 from Balochistan.

There are 471 candidates vying for seats reserved for non-Muslims in all the four provinces. Out of them, 232 people have filed nomination papers from Punjab, 110 from Sindh, 73 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 56 from Balochistan.

As per the election schedule, the scrutiny process will conclude on Tuesday next while appeals against rejection or acceptance of nomination papers by returning officers can be filed by June 22. The appellate tribunals will decide the appeals by June 27, after which the revised list of candidates will be published on June 28.

Candidates have the option to withdraw their nomination papers by June 29 and the Election Commission will announce the final list of candidates on the same day. The electoral symbols will be issued to candidates on June 30.