KARACHI, April 4: Returning officers at the city courts on Thursday rejected nomination papers of a dozen of candidates during the process of scrutiny for the upcoming general elections.
The nomination papers of one candidate of the Pakistan Peoples Party, four independent candidates, two candidates of Majlis-i-Wahdatul Muslimeen, one candidate of the Awami National Party, two candidates of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and one candidate each of the All-Pakistan Muslim League and the Mohajir Qaumi Movement were rejected.
Earlier on Wednesday, the papers of five candidates were rejected by the returning officers at the city courts.
The nomination papers of PPP’s Mohammad Ilyas Gabol for the provincial assembly seat PS-126, independent candidate Sajid Hussain for PS-121, MWM’s Syed Iqbal Hussian and Ali Akbar for PS-107, independent candidate Hakim Abdul Mehboob for PS-121, Shahid Shah of the APML for the national assembly seat NA-253, independent candidate Mohammad Shahzad for PS-124, PTI’s Mohammad Shafiq for NA-254 and ANP’s Karam Darwesh for NA-241 were rejected.
Similarly, the nominations papers of independent candidate Sajjad Nadeem for PS-125, PTI’s Mehwish Amjad Ghoury for PS-124 and Waseem Ahmed of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement for PS-125 were also turned down.
Most of the nominations papers were rejected on the ground that seconders and proposers of the candidates were not from the said constituencies, while the papers of one candidate were rejected for being found a defaulter of the Karachi Electric Supply Company and another for being underage.
Khushbakht Shujaat (NA-245) and Abdul Rasheed Godil (NA-252) of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Shahjehan Baloch (NA-248), Sania Naz (PS-109) and Adnan Baloch (PS-111) of the PPP and Saleem Zia (NA-250) and Aslam Khattak (NA-245) of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) were among the candidates whose nomination papers were accepted on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Jan Mohammad of the Jamaat-i-Islami, who is a candidate from NA-248, raised objection against his opponent Nabeel Gobal of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement on the ground that he was holing dual nationality.
The presiding officer said it would be best if the same was made at proper time. He added that he would make a decision in this regard on April 6.
Earlier, PPP candidate Shahjehan Baloch, who was recently arrested in the Arshad Pappu murder case, was brought to the city courts in an armoured personnel carrier and produced before the presiding officer for the scrutiny of his nomination papers on Thursday.
