ISLAMABAD, Aug 18: Filing of nomination papers for National and provincial assemblies will begin from Monday.

The Election Commission has taken effective measures and issued instructions to all the returning and assistant returning officers to extend full assistance to the candidates to ensure fair, free and transparent elections being held on Oct 10.

The returning officers have been vested with powers to reject the papers on the basis of information received from “any source”.

For the first time the returning officers would enjoy suo motu powers to reject the nomination papers on the basis of information received from any source, which is generally believed to be intelligence agencies.

Earlier, during the local government elections the intelligence agencies had been assigned the task of blocking the entry of “undesirable elements.”

The experiment of behind-the-door scrutiny of nomination papers would now be used in the forthcoming general election.

The returning officers throughout the country would start receiving nomination papers from candidates for 342 National Assembly seats and 728 provincial assemblies seats, including seats reserved for women and minorities.

The elections on the general seats of the National Assembly (272) and provincial assemblies (577) would be held on the basis of single member territorial constituency (existing system). However, elections on the seats reserved for women and minorities will be held on proportional representation basis.

Each province would be considered a single constituency for all the seats reserved for women which are allocated to the province of the candidate. The government has reserved 35 seats for women for Punjab; 14 for Sindh; eight for NWFP, and three for Balochistan in the National Assembly.

The candidates desiring to contest elections on the seats reserved for minorities in the National Assembly would submit their nomination papers with the returning officer in the Election Commission’s Secretariat, Islamabad.

The nomination papers for seats reserved for women in the National Assembly and in the provincial assemblies and for seats reserved for non-Muslims in the provincial assemblies would be received by the returning officer/ Provincial Election Commissioner of the provinces of Punjab, Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan in their respective offices.

The federally administered tribal areas (Fata) and the federal capital have no share in the seats reserved for women. The Fata and the federal capital have a collective share of 14 National Assembly seats, equal to general seats of Balochistan but no share in the seats reserved for women.

The Chief Election Commission has issued directions to all the returning officers not to receive nomination papers from the sitting ministers and governors, desiring to contest elections.