PESHAWAR, Aug 8: The Peshawar High Court on Monday allowed several candidates to contest the local body elections scheduled to begin on Aug 18.

After hearing arguments and examining past records, the two-member bench comprising Justice Qaim Jan Khan and Justice Salim Khan announced that it would set aside the verdicts of the concerned district returning officers and returning officers and allow the candidates to contest the election.

Advocate Arifullah, legal counsel for the aggrieved candidates, said that the nomination papers of his clients — Azmatullah and Shaukat, candidates for the post of nazim, and a female contestant for a union council seat Hukam Babi – had been rejected on the grounds that their names had not been included in the 2002 voters’ list.

Mr Arifullah requested the court to allow his clients to contest the election because their names had already appeared in the voters’ list of 2000-01.

Meanwhile, the same bench also allowed Amir Muhammad and Abdul Ghaffar, candidates for top union council posts in Kal Kot, Gawal and Upper Dir, as the concerned DROs had rejected their nomination papers on the grounds that their degrees had been issued by a madressah.

Canvassing: NWFP Election Commissioner Abdullah Khan has directed candidates contesting local government polls not to use cable TV network for their election campaign.

Talking to newsmen at his office here on Monday, he said the use of cable TV networks for election campaign was against the code of conduct and warned the candidates of stern action in case of non-compliance with the directives.

The provincial election commissioner said the district returning officers had been directed to ensure that the code of conduct formulated by the Election Commission for publicity by candidates was being adhered to.

He said that the DROs were redressing complaints about the ongoing process of local body polls.

Most of the complaints, he added, were received about alleged involvement of politicians and ministers in electioneering. However, incidents of violation of the code of conduct in the NWFP were very limited.

Abdullah Khan said that police had also been directed to keep an eye on the violation of the code of conduct.—APP