25 April 2004	Sunday	04 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

PESHAWAR, April 24: The nomination papers of four women candidates filed against vacant women's reserved seats in the Peshawar City District Council were accepted by the returning officer concerned despite not fulfilling the required conditions, sources informed Dawn here on Saturday.

It is learnt that in three of the cases the proposer and seconder of the candidates do not belong to the town council concerned, which is a condition for filing nomination papers.

The fourth candidate does not belong to the constituency she intends to represent in the district council.

Under the Local Government Ordinance, 2001, thirty reserved seats for women in the Peshawar City District Council have been divided into four town councils on proportional representation basis.

Under the law, the contesting candidate shall be a voter in the town council to which the reserved seat belong. Similarly, the proposer and seconder of a candidate shall be a union councillor of the same town to which the reserved seat belong.

The election commission had announced by-elections on seven vacant reserved seats for women in the Peshawar City District Council. One each from Town-I and Town-II, while five from Town-IV.

However, no candidate filed nomination paper against the vacant seat from Town-II. One candidate filed her nomination papers from Town-III and four candidates from Town-IV.

The last date for submission of objections against the candidates was Saturday. And no one objected to the candidature of these five contestants and they will be declared elected unopposed against their respective reserved seats.

According to the sources, a proposer of Samina Sameen, one of the candidates contesting from Town-IV against the vacant seat of City District Council, was her mother Begum Nargis Sameen, who was district councillor.

According to rules, the proposer and seconder must be the councillor, Deputy Nazim or Nazim of the same town council. But the returning officer accepted the nomination paper without following the set rules.

The same is the case with another candidate Wajiha Gul, who is also contesting from Town-IV. According to the sources, her seconder was Nelofar Awan, councillor of Town-I union council.

Bibi Aiysha Hasan, another candidate from the same constituency, was not a resident of the same Town-IV. "She is the resident of Shaheen Town, the area fell in Town-I," the sources said.

Two district councillors, Noor Jehan Rabbani and Asmat Ara, were the proposer and seconder, respectively, for another candidate, Khalida Nasreen, who is contesting against the City District Council from Town-III.

Interestingly, her name is also not on the voter list, which is a must for contesting local bodies elections.

According to the sources, the federal election commission did not provide fresh electoral list to the returning officer, and asked him to hold by-election on April 28. Many names of those union council members who were either dead or had become members of the National Assembly or provincial assemblies were also included in the electoral list, the sources added.