November 29, 2007	Thursday	Ziqa’ad 18, 1428

BAHAWALPUR, Nov 28: The returning officer (RO) for NA-187 (Bahawalpur-V) on Wednesday rejected an objection to the nomination papers filed by former chief minister Pervaiz Elahi and subsequently accepted them.

It is learnt that the objection was of flimsy nature raised by Muhammed Iqbal Mahar, the general-secretary of the local chapter of PML-N. Mahar had asked the RO to scrutinise whether the former chief minister’s forms had been proposed or seconded by any patwari. The RO overruled the objection and accepted the nomination papers.

The nomination papers of seven other candidates, including PML-N’s Saood Majid Chaudhry, were also found correct. Similarly, the nomination papers of all the candidates for NA-183, 184 and 186 were found correct.

However, the RO reserved his verdict on the objections regarding graduation qualification of Allah Din, alias Sheikh Hakim Ali, a former minister belonging to Jhang, now a candidate for NA-184 and PP-269 holding a seminary board’s degree, and of Syed Ghulam Murtaza Shah, a candidate for PP-270.

Meanwhile, Deputy Election Commissioner Sheikh Jalil Ahmad said on Wednesday that over 1,100 polling stations would be established for about 1.7 million voters of this district.

SAHIWAL: The RO for NA-160, while accepting the nomination papers of 16 candidates, rejected the papers of Qari Muhammad Tahir Rashidi, a candidate of the MMA, after he failed to produce his requisite educational certificate from any of the 10 seminaries’ boards approved by the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

Similarly, an independent candidate, Sajid Ali Chauhan, was directed to produce his BA degree on Nov 30.

MIANWALI: The RO for NA-71 directed a candidate, Nawabzada Malik Fawad Khan, of Kalabagh to get his Oxford University degree verified from the HEC for the purpose of ascertaining its equivalence to graduation. Fawad Khan, however, withdrew his nomination papers and said he had no time to get his ‘prestigious’ degree verified by the HEC.

The nomination papers of Fawad’s covering candidate and his younger brother, Captain Malik Amad Khan (retired), were found correct and now he will contest the election. The RO also directed PML-N candidate Inamullah Khan Niazi to produce HEC’s equivalence certificate of his degree of architecture on Dec 1.