LAHORE, Sept 1: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Sunday formally withdrew his nomination papers for NA-120 as a mark of protest against the rejection of Benazir Bhutto’s for a Larkana constituency.

An announcement to this effect was made on Saturday. The application for withdrawal of Mr Sharif’s nomination papers was filed by his proposer Dilshad Ahmad. It was further pleaded in the application that the move was aimed at showing solidarity with the people of Sindh whose leader had had her papers rejected without any valid reason.

The RO allowed the application after going through its contents.

However, Mr Sharif’s nomination papers for NA-121 have not been withdrawn as yet. The RO for 121, Shaukat Iqbal, who accepted Mr Sharif’s papers on Aug 28, said no application for withdrawal of the papers had been filed when the court timings ended at 3pm on Sunday. However, the papers could be withdrawn till Sept 12.

In another development, the nomination papers of Lahore Naib Nazim Farooq Amjad Mir were rejected by the RO for NA-120 on grounds that he had failed to turn up in the court despite being summoned twice. The RO had summoned Mr Mir on Aug 29 and then again on Sunday. The RO observed that the candidate had neither appeared himself nor nominated anybody else to be present on his behalf during the scrutiny of his papers.

Meanwhile, the nomination of MMA leader Hafiz Salman Butt for NA-120 was accepted.