ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission (ECP) has received an application against Mir Shahjahan Khetran, managing director of the Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC), stating that in spite of being the head of a government organisation, Mr Khetran has filed his nomination papers to contest election for a provincial assembly seat (PB 17) from Balochistan.

The complainants have accused Mr Khetran of using government vehicles and other resources for his election campaign.

The application was filed by Majid Yaqub, Ramzan Mirza, Qamar Zaman and Nadeem Bukhari.

One of the complainants, Mr Mirza, referred to rules which bar a person serving in a government department from contesting election. “Mr Khetran visits his office regularly and has been handling all functions of the department,” he added.

Another complainant, Mr Yaqub, said if Mr Khetran was allowed to contest election, he would be able to use his position for influencing results. He alleged that Mr Khetran was appointed as managing director of PTDC in 2011 on political grounds.

Mr Khetran refused to comment on the matter.

Khurshid Alam, the deputy director of ECP’s republic relations, said sometimes candidates succeeded in filing nomination papers without mentioning their occupations but their papers were rejected after scrutiny.