RAWALPINDI: The nomination papers of two candidates were rejected by returning officers in the Rawalpindi district while that of PPP, PML-N and PTI bigwigs were cleared as the scrutiny of papers continued on Tuesday.

The nominations of PML-N’s Shakila Shaukat Bhatti and former parliamentary secretary for defence Chaudhry Khurshid Zaman were rejected in Gujar Khan.

Shakila Bhatti, wife of former MPA Saukat Aziz Bhatti, had filed the papers from PP-9. But because of her dual nationality, the papers were rejected.

PML-N’s Shakila Shaukat Bhatti’s nominations were rejected in Gujar Khan for being a dual national

The objection to the candidature of the PML-N candidate was raised by another leader of the same party, Riaz Mughal.

The nomination papers of Chaudhry Khurshid Zaman from NA-58 were rejected after he did not appear before the court during the scrutiny of papers.

Those whose nominations were cleared included PPP leader Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Ghulam Sawar Khan, retired Col Ajmal Sabir and PML-N candidates Qamarul Islam, Mohammad Hanif Abbasi, Awami Muslim League (AML) President Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Malik Abrar Ahmed, Raza Ahmed Shah and Amir Kiani.

PML-N disgruntled leader Chaudhry Nisar, PTI stalwart Ghulam Sarwar Khan, PML-N candidate Engineer Qamarul Islam and independent candidate retired Col Ajmal Sabir are contesting from NA-59.

From NA-60, the forms of Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, PML-N’s Hanif Abbasi and MMA’s Raza Ahmed Shah were also cleared. Similarly, the nominations of 28 candidates, including PML-N’s Malik Abrar Ahmed, PTI’s Amir Kiani and PPP’s Qasim Khan, were cleared for NA-61.

The returning officers also accepted the nomination forms of PML-N candidate Barrister Danial Chaudhry, AML chief Sheikh Rashid and Sheikh Nadim Ahmed from NA-62.

From PP-10, the nominations of 29 candidates, including Chaudhry Nisar, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Qamarul Islam and Raja Kamran of the PPP were accepted.

The nomination papers of Haji Amjad of PTI, Qasiq Qayyum Abbasi, PML-N’s Chaudhry Sarfaraz Afzal and 19 other candidates were accepted from PP-13. The nomination of 32 candidates, including PML-N’s Usama Cahudhry, were accepted from PP-14.

The ROs accepted the nomination papers of 27 candidates, including PML-N’s Malik Iftikhar Ahmed and Shehryar Riaz of PTI, from PP-15.

From PP-17, the nominations of 32 candidates, including PML-N leader Raja Hamid Advocate, PTI’s Fayyazul Hassan Chohan and Azhar Iqbal Satti were accepted. The ROs in PP-18 accepted the nomination papers of PML-N candidates Ziaullah Shah, Malik Shakil Ahmed Awan, PTI’s Ijaz Khan Jazzi and Babar Khan Jadoon of PPP besides 20 others. Chaudhry Umar Farooq’s nomination papers were also accepted.

The nomination papers of Faisal Qayyum Malik, a PML-N candidate from PP-12, were accepted by the RO. He will face Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan from the constituency. The nomination papers of PML-N candidate Chaudhry Riaz were also accepted.

The papers of Chaudhry Mohammad Azeem from NA-58, Raja Ali Asghar, Chaudhry Mohammad Ishtiaq, Chaudhry Ziafat Hussain, Raja Khuram, Pervaiz Ashraf, Chaudhry Javed Kausar from PP-8 and Raja Hameed Advocate, Faisal Bhatti, Chaudhry Sajid Mehmood and Chaudhry Sarfraz Khan from PP-9 were also accepted.

In Taxila, Returning Officer (RO) Tahir Abbas Sipra issued a list of 16 candidates whose nomination papers were cleared for NA-63 (Rawalpindi-VII).

The candidates are: former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, PTI Vice President Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Maulana Mohammad Sarwar, PML-N district president Sardar Mumtaz Khan, Ijaz Ahmed, Safeer Alam, former MPAs Umer Fraooq, Prof Waqas Khan, Shafeeq Khaqan, Usman Khalid Khan, PML-N Taxila President Fayyaz Khan, Faisal Iqbal, Aqeel Ahmed, Syed Ishrat Zaidi and Qari Habibur Rehman.

Objections were raised over Umer Frarooq’s candidature for being a defaulter of SNGPL and Prof Waqas Khan for being a defaulter of PTCL. However, the nomination papers were cleared after the candidates submitted the receipts of payment of the dues. NA-63 consists of Taxila tehsil and Adiala revenue limits of Rawalpindi tehsil. The total population of the constituency is 76,3261 and there are 343,853 registered voters.

Amjad Iqbal also contributed to this story.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2018