RAWALPINDI: Sardar Naseem and Chaudhry Tariq of the ruling PML-N were elected unopposed mayor and deputy mayor of Rawalpindi as no candidate filed nomination papers on the last day on Friday.

The PPP wanted to contest the elections but its candidates failed to file the nomination papers as they could not get a proposer and secondor. The PTI and Sheikh Rashid’s AML refused to help the PPP.

Sardar Naseem and Chaudhry Tariq filed the nomination papers with returning officer Nazia Parveen Sudhan on Friday. PML-N leaders, including Hanif Abbasi, Haji Pervaiz, Senator Najma Hameed, MNA Tahira Aurangzeb, MNA Malik Abrar and MPA Raja Hanif Advocate accompanied Sardar Naseem to the district courts to submit the papers.

However, after waiting for other candidates till the evening, the returning officer told Dawn that Sardar Naseem and Chaudhry Tariq were the only candidates for the slots of the mayor and deputy mayor.

She said five candidates had obtained nomination papers.

The scrutiny of the nomination papers would be held on Dec 10 and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) would officially announce the names of the mayor and the deputy mayor on Dec 11 and 12.

“If the nomination papers got cleared, the ECP will announce the names of the mayor and the deputy mayor as elected unopposed,” said a senior official.

He said if the nomination papers were rejected, the ECP would issue a fresh date for the election of the mayor and the deputy mayor.

PML-N city president and the mayor-elect Sardar Naseem told Dawn that his election was the success of the ruling party in the city which was a fortress of the PML-N. He said the people of the city had rejected the PTI of Imran Khan who managed to win two National Assembly seats and three provincial assembly seats in 2013.

On the other hand, PPP candidate for the slot of mayor, Raja Shahid Mehmood Khan Papu, failed to find a proposer and secondor to submit his nomination papers. The PPP has three members in the 63-member house while the PML-N has 57, PTI two and the AML one.

The PPP candidate held a meeting with PTI’s two union council chairmen, Azhar Satti and Mumtaz Khan, but they refused to support him.

“We tried hard to get the support of the opposition PTI but they did not help the PPP. We offered them our support if they wanted to contest selection but they rejected this proposal too,” PPP Union Council Chairman Babar Jadoon told Dawn.

He criticised the PTI and the AML saying they did not want to get united and were helping the PML-N win the seats.

However, PTI UC chairman Mumtaz Khan said the PPP did not offer the PTI to contest the election.

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2016