TAXILA: Criticising the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the caretaker government after rejection of their nomination papers, leaders and members of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) from Attock on Sunday declared that they would challenge the decisions of the returning officers before the tribunals with the hope of getting justice from the judiciary.

Talking to reporters, lawyers of former PTI MNA retired Major Tahir Sadiq said they would challenge the decision and they would “fight till the last ball”.

Former minister in the cabinet of ex-prime minister Imran Khan, Zulfi Bukhari through his social media account on Sunday stated that his papers had been rejected by the returning officer (RO) after declaring his signatures forged. He termed the RO’s decision ‘ridiculous’.

Mr Bukhari alleged that six people, including his lawyers and those who attested his documents, were kidnapped during the scrutiny process of his papers, claiming that no one was allowed to be present at the time of scrutiny of his papers. He termed it “complete violation of justice and rule of law”.

Criticise role of ECP, caretakers during scrutiny process

It may be recalled that the nomination papers of all the PTI candidates, including some political heavyweights, were rejected by the ROs, according to the list of the validly nominated candidates in two National and five provincial assembly seats in Attock which was released by the ROs after completion of the scrutiny process on Saturday night.

The official data reveals that out of 180 candidates, nomination papers of 158 candidates had been approved, while those of the PTI candidates, whose number is 22, were rejected.

Prominent among those whose nomination papers were rejected are former MNA Tahir Sadiq and his two daughters, including former MNA Eman Tahir. Besides them, the papers of his son Mohammad Zain and his wife Naz Tahir have also been rejected on various grounds.

In provincial assembly constituency PP-1 Attock-I (Hazro), nomination papers of 19 candidates have been accepted. However, the papers of PTI’s district president Qazi Ahmed Akbar and his mother Shahnaz Khalid have been rejected.

In provincial assembly constituency PP-2 Attock-II (Hassanabdal-Fatehjang), the nomination papers of 20 candidates were accepted. In provincial assembly constituency PP-3 Attock-III (Attock city), as many as 15 candidates’ nomination papers have been accepted. In provincial assembly constituency PP-4 Attock-IV (Pindigheb), as many as 21 candidates have cleared the scrutiny process.

In provincial assembly constituency PP-5 Attock-V (Jand), nomination papers of 29 candidates were accepted while PTI former member provincial assembly Jamshaid Altaf nomination papers were rejected.

For National Assembly constituency NA-54 (Taxila), the nomination papers of 39 candidates have been accepted. Interestingly, the nomination papers submitted by former provincial minister Taimour Masood Akbar for NA-54 have been accepted whereas the RO for the provincial assembly seat (PP-13) has rejected his papers.

According to the ECP schedule, appeals against acceptance or rejection of nomination papers can be submit¬ted by the candidates till Wednesday and decisions on these appeals will be made by Jan 10.

Published in Dawn, January 1st, 2024