A son and son-in-law of Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed will be contesting the upcoming elections for National Assembly seats from Punjab, JuD's Deputy Information Secretary Ahmed Nadeem said on Friday.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has accepted the nomination papers of Hafiz Talha Saeed (son) and Hafiz Khalid Waleed (son-in-law) for NA-91 (Sargodha-IV) and NA-133 (Lahore-XI) respectively, the official said.
The two are among 265 candidates who will be contesting the upcoming polls on the little-known Allah-o-Akbar Tehreek's (AAT) ticket. The ECP had earlier refused to register the Milli Muslim League (MML) as a political party, which was considered a political front for the JuD.
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The MML will put forward candidates from 80 NA and 185 provincial seats from across Pakistan, but the focus will remain on Punjab, where 50 NA and 152 provincial assembly candidates will be contesting from.
NA-91 Sargodha, where Talha Saeed — a lecturer at a university in Lahore — is contesting from, includes his father's native village, Chak 126 South. He will be using AAT's symbol, the 'chair'.
The AAT had earlier denied being in alliance with any political party and said that all candidates contesting the elections under its banner — including those from the MML — will also be members of the AAT.
Aurangzeb Farooqui's nomination challenged
A citizen in Karachi has moved the Elections Appellate Tribunal Sindh challenging the acceptance of Aurangzeb Farooqui's nomination papers from Malir's PS-91 constituency.
The appellant has argued that Farroqui is associated with Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) and Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) — both banned organisations — and has been nominated in the first information report of Khurram Zaki's murder.
He said that Farooqui, contesting under Rah-i-Haq Party banner, has also failed to disclose these details in his nomination papers, which should, therefore, be rejected.
Farooqui had been narrowly defeated in the 2013 elections from the erstwhile PS-128 constituency in Karachi.
