GUJRAT, Aug 19: Former federal minister Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar will not be able to contest elections for he does not ‘possess’ the BA degree.

This was claimed by former MPA and PML-QA district president Chaudhry Wajahat Hussain in a press release issued here on Monday.

He claimed that Mr Mukhtar had showed his educational qualification as FA while submitting his nomination papers during the previous elections. The diploma he obtained from abroad was also not equivalent to BA, he said. “Therefore, he would not be eligible to contest the national assembly seat against former interior minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain,” he concluded.

When contacted, a close associate of Mr Mukhtar said there was no truth in it and disclosed that the PPP leader was the holder of an MBA degree.

Meanwhile, former PPP candidate from PP-109, Jalalpur Jattan, had joined the PML-QA over a ticket row, Dawn learnt here on Monday.

The chairman of the defunct Qudrat cooperative finance corporation and former deputy attorney (high court), Chaudhry Abdullah Yousaf, had quit the PPP due to his differences with Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar, party sources said.