QUETTA: A total of 161 people filed their nomination papers for 16 National Assembly seats from Balochistan till last date of the process on Monday.
Provincial Election Commissioner, Balochistan, Naiz Muhammad Baloch said on Monday evening that a large number of people visited the offices of the election commission and returning officers across the province on the last of the filing of nomination papers.
He said 651 people had filed their nomination papers for 51 general seats of the Balochistan Assembly.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had given two extra hours (from 4pm to 6pm) for the submission of nomination papers on Monday. Some people who reached the premises of the election commission and RO offices up to 6pm were also allowed to file their nomination papers even after the deadline.
A large number of women, including former MPAs, and members of minority communities filed their nomination papers for reserved seats for women and minorities in the provincial assembly.
For National Assembly constituency NA-265 (Quetta) at least 32 people have filed their nomination papers on Monday. Among them are Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) chairman Mehmood Khan Achakzai, Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) leader Saeed Ahmed Hashmi, Qasim Khan Suri of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Naseebullah Achakzai of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) and Younis Baloch of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.
The ECP has confirmed that for NA-266 a total of 17 people have submitted their nomination papers, including PkMAP’s Jamal Tarakai, JUI-F’s Hafiz Hussain Ahmed and Balochistan National Party’s Agha Hassan.
Sardar Atif Sanjrani of PTI, Muhammad Umar Khilji and Maulana Asmatullah of JUI-F submitted their papers for NA-264 (Quetta).
Former speaker Muhammad Aslam Bhootani, Prince Ahmed Ali Ahmedzai and BAP chief Jam Mir Kamal Khan Alyani filed their nomination papers for NA-272 (Gwadar-Lasbela).
Former bureaucrat Jam Muhammad Dashti filed his nomination papers for NA-271 (Turbat).
The ECP announced June 11 as the last day for the submission of nomination papers. From June 12 the process of the scrutiny of nomination papers will begin.
Published in Dawn, June 12th, 2018
