KARACHI, July 17: The process of filing nomination papers by candidates will begin on Monday in all the 54 districts where local government elections are scheduled to be held on Aug 18 in the first phase.
Besides receiving the forms, returning officers would continue to issue nomination papers to the aspiring candidates. The process will continue till July 20 which is the last date for submission of nomination papers.
Other than the candidate, his proposer or seconder can also submit nomination papers duly filled and attached with Form-19 along with a bank draft of Rs1,000 for the union council member and Rs5,000 for the office of UC nazim or naib nazim.
On Sunday, which was a closed holiday, some of the returning officers were present in their offices to issue nomination papers. However, compared to Saturday when a huge rush was witnessed, only a few aspirants visited the offices for collecting the papers.
According to sources, no notification had been issued by the Election Commission to returning officers to keep their offices open on Sunday. However, some of the ROs in Karachi and elsewhere reportedly kept their offices open to facilitate the candidates.
This year, the sources said, in view of the powers enjoyed by the local governments in carrying out development work, an enormous interest had been shown in elections by almost all big and small political and religious parties whose offices suddenly became alive and flooded with people busy in filling the forms.
Under the rules, a voter may be a proposer or a seconder for each of different categories and the nomination paper of different categories cannot be rejected on this ground. However, a proposer or a seconder cannot support more than one nomination paper in the same category.
The ROs shall acknowledge receipt of the nomination papers specifying the date and time of its receipt and the name of the person presenting them.
The sources said that union council nazims and naib nazims would be elected through direct elections along with other members of union councils as joint candidates.
In the second phase, elections will be held for union councils in 56 districts of four provinces, while in the third phase beginning from Sept 3 and culminating on Oct 1, elections will be held for district/ city district/ tehsil/ taluka / town nazims and members of zila councils, tehsil/ taluka or town councils and for the seats reserved for women, peasants and workers and minority communities.
In the nomination form, the minimum qualification for nazim and naib nazim has been set at matric, while for a UC member there is no requirement of educational qualification.