ISLAMABAD: As the nomination fee — commonly known as security deposit — of 2,870 of the total 3,355 candidates for the National Assembly will be forfeited for failing to obtain over 25 per cent of total votes polled in their constituencies according to official results, at least 10 party heads besides many other prominent politicians will not be refunded the money they had deposited.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Shahbaz Sharif, Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto- Zardari, Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai, Baloch National Movement chief Dr Abdul Baloch, Qaumi Watan Party president Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, Pak Sarzameen Party president Mustafa Kamal, Taraqqi Pasand Party (TPP) chief Qadir Magsi, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (Gulalai) chief Ayesha Gulalai and Pakistan Awami Raaj (PAR) president Jamshed Dasti are on the list of those candidates hit by a legal provision of the Elections Act.

Under the Elections Act, the requirement of obtaining one-eighth of the total polled votes to qualify for refund of nomination fee had been changed to one-fourth apparently to discourage non-serious candidates.

The ratio of forfeitures was highest in Fata (95.48pc), followed by Islamabad (92.42 pc), Balochistan (91.98 pc) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (86.13pc), while the lowest ratio of forfeiture was in Sindh (84.46 pc) and Punjab (84.46 pc).

Shahbaz, Bilawal, Fazl, Farooq Sattar, Sherpao among prominent candidates who remained unable to secure 25pc of polled votes

In Fata, 254 of the total 266 candidates are going to lose their nomination fee. In Islamabad, 61 of the total 66 candidates for three National Assembly seats failed to secure more than 25pc of the total votes polled.

Similarly, 264 of the total 287 candidates for NA seats from Balochistan and 354 of the total 411 candidates from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa could not meet the legal requirement for refund of nomination fee.

Besides, 696 of the total 824 contestants from Sindh and 1,241 of 1,501 from Punjab candidates will lose their deposit for failing to get over 25pc of total votes polled in their respective constituencies.

In Swat (NA-3), Shahbaz Sharif could bag only 22,766 of the total 161,872 polled votes, thus losing the fee that had been deposited along with his nomination papers.

Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari will not be refunded his nomination fee that he had deposited for contesting from Malakand (NA-8) and Karachi (NA-246).

Maulana Fazlur Rahman and Mr Sherpao face embarrassment in their hometowns of D.I. Khan (NA-38) and Charsadda (NA-23) for failing to obtain 25pc of the polled votes.

Former MQM convener Dr Farooq Sattar lost his nomination fee for remaining unable to secure even one-fourth of the votes polled in NA-245 and NA-247 constituencies of Karachi.

The PSP chief lost his money deposited for contesting Karachi Central (NA-253) seat.

TPP chief Magsi failed to obtain 25pc votes from Nawabshah (NA-213), PkMAP chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai from Quetta (NA-265) and BNM chief Dr Abdul Hayee Baloch failed to obtain one-fourth of total polled votes from Dera Bugti (NA-259). ANP’s Sindh chapter president Shahi Syed and provincial chief of the JUP-Noorani Sahibzada Abul Khair also lost their deposits from Karachi (NA-250) and Hyderabad (NA-227), respectively.

Ayesha Gulalai will not be refunded her nomination fee that she had deposited to contest elections from Nowshera (NA-25), Islamabad (NA-53), Lodhran (NA-161) and Sujawal (NA-231). Similarly, Jamshed Dasti could not obtain over 25pc votes from any of the three constituencies NA-182 (Muzaf­fargarh) and NA-185 (Muzaffargarh) and NA-189 (D.G. Khan).

Many other prominent politicians, including at least one former governor, two former chief ministers, besides former federal ministers and lawmakers, are also on the list of the candidates who remained unable to get over 25pc votes.

Former federal minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry of the PML-N and PPP’s Afzal Khokar will lose their nomination fee for failing to obtain 25pc of the total votes polled in the Islamabad (NA-52) constituency.

MMA’s Mohammad Aslam and PPP’s Sibtul Haider remained unable to secure 25pc of total votes polled in Islamabad (NA-53) constituency from where PTI chief Imran Khan emerged victorious. Also Raja Imran Ashraf, brother of former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, will not be refunded his nomination fee that he had deposited to contest from Islamabad (NA-53). It was a close call for former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi who won 44,314 votes against the minimum requirement of 44,114 votes.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

PML-N’s Amir Muqam faced such a defeat from Swat (NA-2) and Peshawar (NA-29); Maulana Attaur Rehman, Maulana Gohar Shah and Ghulam Ali of the MMA met the same fate in Mardan (NA-20), Charsadda (NA-24) and Peshawar (NA-27), respectively. PPP’s Asma Alamgir and her spouse Arbab Alamgir lost their deposit from NA-27 and NA-30 constituencies of Peshawar, respectively. Nawabzada Mohsin Ali and Akhunzada Chitan of the PPP faced the same fate in Karak (NA-34) and Tribal Area-I (NA-40).

Punjab

Prominent among those from Punjab who will lose the money they had deposited along with their nomination papers include former Punjab governor and chief minister Malik Ghulam Mustafa Khar of the PTI (NA-181, Muzaffargarh), PPP’s Mehreen Anwar Raja (NA-57, Rawalpindi), PML-N’s Raja Javed Akhlas (NA-58, Rawalpindi), PTI’s Samsam Bokhari (NA-141, Okara), Ghulam Farid Kathia (NA-148, Sahiwal), PPP’s Makhdoom Ali Hasan Gilani (NA-173, Bahawalpur), PTI’s Tehmina Dasti (NA-182, Muzaffargarh), PTI’s Malik Rafiq Khar (NA-183, Muzaffargarh) and former Punjab chief minister Sardar Dost Mohammad Khosa from NA-191 D.G. Khan (independent).

Sindh

In Sindh, MQM’s Rauf Siddiqui, Waseem Akhtar, Syed Ali Raza, Kishwar Zahra; PPP’s Shehla Raza; MMA’s Asadullah Bhutto; and PML-N’s Miftah Ismael are among the prominent candidates whose nomination fee will be forfeited.

MQM’s Rauf Siddiqui failed to obtain even 25pc of the total votes polled in Karachi (NA-244) and Nawabshah (NA-213), Waseem Akhtar in Sanghar (NA-215), Kishwar Zahra and Syed Ali Raza in Karachi’s constituencies of NA-242 and NA-243. PPP’s Shehla Raza will lose the nomination fee she had deposited to contest elections from Karachi (NA-243). MMA’s Asadullah Bhutto failed to obtain one-fourth of the total votes in Karachi (NA-242), while PML-N’s Miftah Ismael too lost his money after failing to obtain 25pc of the total votes polled in Karachi’s NA-244 constituency.

Balochistan

Prominent among those from Balochistan on the list include PML-N’s Sardar Yaqub Khan and MMA’s Amir Zaman who failed to obtain over 25pc of total votes polled in Loralai-Ziarat (NA-258), Former federal minister Mir Baz Khan Khetran of the PPP will have his nomination fee forfeited after remaining unable to secure over 25pc votes in Dera Bugti (NA-259), and former Balochistan chief minister Sanaullah Zehri will lose the money he had deposited for contesting elections from Mastung-Kalat (NA-267).

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2018