LAHORE: The returning officer for NA-120 accepted nomination papers of two top contenders — Kulsoom Nawaz of the Pakistan Mus­lim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Dr Yasmin Rashid of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) — as the process for scrutiny of the candidates stood completed on Thursday.

As the workers of both rival parties remained gathered outside the office of the provincial election commissioner the whole day, Ms Rashid personally appeared before returning officer Mian Mohammad Shahid, while PML-N Senator Asif Kirmani represented Ms Nawaz.

The ruling party leaders said Ms Nawaz had left for London on Thursday morning for a medical check-up.

The returning officer rejected objections against the nomination papers of Ms Nawaz and Ms Rashid. At least nine objections had been filed against the candidature of Ms Nawaz by Faisal Mir of the Pakistan Peoples Party, Advocate Ishtiaq Ahmad Chaudhry of the Pakistan Awami Tehreek and others.

The returning officer also accepted nomination papers of Hafiz Nauman and Andleeb Abbas — covering candidates of the PML-N and PTI, respectively. He rejected papers of two out of a total of 65 candidates. Gulab Singh and a namesake of Nawaz Sharif were among the candidates whose papers were rejected.

The PML-N workers distributed sweets after the acceptance of Ms Nawaz’s nomination papers.

Appeals against rejection/acceptance of nomination papers can be filed by Aug 21, while the appellate tribunal would decide the appeals by Aug 24. The candidates can withdraw their papers till Aug 25. The returning officer will issue the final list of candidates on Aug 26.

Talking to reporters, Senator Kirmani said those who challenged the nomination papers of Ms Nawaz had no evidence in support of their allegations. He claimed that the people who were against Nawaz Sharif were against Pakistan in fact. He said no allegation of corruption or commission had been proved against the ousted prime minister, adding that people would not let PTI chief Imran Khan flee.

Earlier, Yasmin Rashid said the PTI had filed objections to the nomination of Ms Nawaz on different grounds, including non-submission of details of her UAE Iqama, adding that the prescribed rules must be followed by all concerned.

“The PPP candidate had filed objections against me, but the returning officer rejected all the objections and accepted my papers,” she said.

Dr Rashid said she had launched a door-to-door election campaign and apprehended that some untoward incident could happen if the rivals tried to disrupt her election campaign. “The PTI had won, when Nawaz Sharif was disqualified by the Supreme Court.”

Referring to her rival Ms Nawaz in the by-election, she said the election could not be contested while sitting in London. Pre-empting election campaign by the disqualified prime minister, Dr Rashid said Mr Sharif would be violating the Supreme Court orders.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2017