In the city all the four nominations rejected by the returning officers were of the candidates belonging to opposition groups.
Lal Haveli group of Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed is poised to win atleast two seats unopposed if the appeals against rejection of these candidates are not accepted and the courts do not give them relief either.
A couple of other candidates backed by another group of the ruling party, led by provincial minister Raja Basharat, are likely to return unopposed.
Two panels, both main and covering panels, of Awam Dost Group from city’s UC-3 were rejected. The first panel was of Sheikh Ijaz and Rahim Dad. Since Mr Dad’s education certificates were questioned and he could not satisfy the returning officer about their authenticity, the nomination of the panel was rejected.
Similarly, nomination papers of Awam Dost group’s covering panel of Sumera Gul and Akhtar Gul in UC-3 were rejected because of faulty proposer and seconder.
Both the panels would appeal against the decision, but in case their nominations are rejected Babar Sultan of Lal Haveli would get elected.
In UC-36 the nomination papers of Mr Ahmed Khan of Jamhooriat Nawaz Group, also an opposition group, were rejected for defective education certificates. Since there is no other candidate from opposition the outcome would be determined by the fate of appeals.
In UC-37 nomination papers of Muhammad Saeed, a candidate for nazim, were rejected. Mr Jamil Mughal is slated to win unopposed. Mr Mughal, who had earlier claimed affiliation with Awam Dost Group and was also claimed by Lal Haveli Group, talking to this reporter after rejection of nominations of his opponent switched loyalties to Raja Basharat’s group.
Attiqur Rehman, a candidate for the slot of naib nazim from UC-76 ended up being rejected at the scrutiny stage again because of defective education documents. Because of joint nomination for nazim and naib nazim, the nazim from this panel also stands disqualified. Azhar Abbassi, aligned towards the ruling party, is poised to win from this constituency. Basit Maskeen, a candidate for nazim from UC-77, was also disqualified.
In UC-101 Shaukat Mehmood’s nominations were rejected for not having completed the required period subsequent to government service to qualify for elections.
Raja Sultan Masood’s defective education credentials got his candidature for the slot of naib nazim UC-Khadiot Kahuta rejected leading to disqualification of his partner nazim as well. Nomination of Zafar Ali, a candidate for nazim UC-116, were also rejected.
Appeals against acceptance and rejection of nomination papers would be filed from Monday, which would then be decided by August 3. Final lists would be displayed on August 5.
Amjad Iqbal from Taxila adds: The retuning officers rejected the nomination of five candidates, including two female candidates.
The RO rejected the nomination papers of Fayyaz Khan and Amir Khan, candidates for nazim and naib nazim, union council Lab Thatoo, respectively.
The RO also rejected the nomination papers of Ms Maroof Sultana candidate for general councilor, UC Mohara Shah Wali Shah, Ms Ameer Khanam candidate for general councilor UC Lab Thatoo and Muhammad Suleman candidate for general councilor UC Lab Thatoo.
Yaqoob Malik from Attock adds: As many as 130 nominations were rejected out of a total of 2,875 papers filed for different categories while 2,745 were accepted by the returning officers against the total 936 seats of 72 UCs of the district.
The returning officer on Sunday rejected the nominations of the candidates for Nazims and Naib Nazims of Union Council Attock-III of both Khattar and Muttahida opposition groups during the cross objections of rival candidates on each other.
The Khattar group’s aspirants Sheikh Qaiser Jameel for naib Nazim, UC-Attock-III, objected that his rival candidate for Nazim Akther Javed did not reveal his actual assets in the nominations papers, while the latter candidate also raised the objection over the former that he is defaulter of income tax.
However both the candidates would file appeals against the rejections of their nominations before the District Returning officer Attock on Monday.
Interestingly, the nominations of candidates for Nazim Haji Akram Khan of Khatter group and candidates for Naib Nazim Capt (retired) Muhammad Iqbal of Muthahida opposition of the same UC, have also rejected automatically due to rejection of their joint fellow candidates as per rules of ECP.
According to the District Returning Officer, Attock, a total of 2,875 nomination papers have been filed, including 278 joint nominations for Nazim/Naib Nazim, 1,275 for general seats, 349 for women, 596 for peasants, 313 for peasants women and 12 for minority seats.
During the scrutiny 130 nominations were rejected including 15 joint nominations for Nazim/Naib Nazim, 44 for general seats, 6 for women, 48 for peasants male, 14 for peasants, female and 3 for minority seats.
While 2,745 nomination were accepted including 263 joint nominations for nazim/naib nazim, 1,225 for general seats, 354 for women, 551 for peasants, 291 for peasants female and 61 for minority seats.
Hamid Asghar from Gujar Khan adds: Raja Shaukat Aziz, who is contesting polls from a group backed by the ruling party, is poised to return unopposed as union council nazim.