ISLAMABAD: Overturning the decisions made by returning officers, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) cleared on Thursday nomination papers of 15 candidates for the Senate elections.

They include Saud Majeed of PML-N from Punjab and 14 of 19 independent candidates from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata). They had filed appeals against rejection of their nomination papers by returning officers.

The counsel for Saud Majeed, whose papers had been rejected for alleged tax default, told the ECP that his client had paid Rs1.6 million tax in his personal capacity and the company he had shares in had paid Rs190m in taxes and filed a claim for a refund of Rs50m paid in excess.

He said the company had not defaulted on tax payment and it was a mere allegation.

He said a case was pending before the deputy commissioner (appeals) of the income tax department and Mr Majeed could not be termed a defaulter till the appeal was decided.

The candidates from Fata whose appeals were accepted are Munir Khan Orakzai, Abdul Malik Qadri, Maulana Abdul Malik Wazir, Pir Mohammad Aqil Shah, Syed Fazal Abbas, Rahat Yousaf, Said Nawab, Malik Aslam Khan, Zar Khan Safi, Malik Rashid Ahmed Khan, Eid Gul Mengal, Hafiz Rashid Ahmed, Abdul Qadir and Mohammad Idrees Khan Safi,

They had argued that they were exempted from payment of taxes because Fata was a tax-free region.

But a representative of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) said though they were exempted from payment of taxes, they were required to fill tax forms and write “nil” in the column where the amount paid in taxes was to be mentioned.

The 14 candidates were allowed to fill the form to get a clean chit from the FBR and then their appeals were accepted.

Four other candidates from Fata — Syed Mohammad Hussain, Dr Aurangzeb, Mohammad Kamran Khan and Habib Malik Orakzai — did not appear before the Election Commission of Pakistan and their appeals would now be heard on Friday (today).

The ECP will also hear 11 appeals against acceptance of nomination papers of six candidates, including Federal Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid, PML-N chairman Raja Zafarul Haq and Raheela Magsi of the party, Rehman Malik of PPP and Waqar Ahmad Khan and his brother Ammar Khan (independents).

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2015

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