KARACHI, Aug 27: Scrutiny of nomination papers filed by the candidates in Karachi for 20 NA and 41 PA general seats began here on Tuesday.
According to the revised schedule, the scrutiny will continue till Sept 2. Reports from the returning officers and assistant returning officers indicate that on Tuesday they remained busy processing nomination papers.
The Election Commission has already announced that scrutiny of papers for 29 reserved seats for women in the Sindh PA will be held on Wednesday and scrutiny for nine non-Muslim reserved seats in the province would be held on Aug 30th.
Likewise, scrutiny of nomination papers for 14 reserved seats for women in the National Assembly from the province would be held on Sept 1 in the office of the Provincial Election Commissioner.
On Tuesday, the returning officers and assistant returning officers remained busy in compiling lists of candidates with details provided by candidates in the nomination papers in accordance with the party affiliations and attached documents.
It is learnt that as the election commission has relaxed the rule of attaching party lists along with nomination papers of being a nominee of the party, many aspirants have filed their nominations in the hope that they might be adopted by the party in case their party nominee stands disqualified.
To facilitate participation of political parties in the election, the representation of the Peoples Act, 1976 has been amended.
According to amendment (a): Pre-condition for filing declaration by the candidates about their party affiliation, along with nomination paper is deleted.
(b): However, a contesting candidate shall file such a declaration before the returning officer about his party indicating that he is a party candidate from the constituency, at any time, before allotment of symbol.
From the city district, a total of 1,345 candidates have filed papers for 61 general seats of the National and Sindh Assembly while on 14 reserved women seats in the national assembly from the province, 95 nominations were received.
For 29 reserved women’s seats in the provincial assembly, a total of 240 nomination papers were filed; and against nine reserved seats of minorities in the Sindh assembly, 95 nominations have been received.
According to a district-wise break-up, in West district on four NA seats (from NA-239 to NA-242) 87 nominations were received while on nine PA seats (from PS-89 to PS-97), 213 nominations were filed.
In district central on five NA seats (from NA-243 to NA-247) 68 nominations were filed while on 10 PA seats (from PS-243 to PS-247), 169 nominations were submitted.
In South on four NA seats (from NA-248 to NA-251), 99 nominations were filed while on 17 PA seats (from PS-108 to PS-114), 176 papers were received.
In East district, on five NA seats (from NA-252 to NA-256) 100 nomination were submitted while on 12 PA seats (from PS-115 to PS-126), 280 papers were filed.
In Malir district, on two NA seats (from NA-257 to NA-258), 50 nominations were submitted while on four PA seats from (PS-127 to PS-130), 103 nomination papers were received.
According to the schedule, appeals against decisions of the returning officers and assistant returning officers could be filed by Sept 6 which would be decided by Sept 13.
The candidates can withdraw their candidature by Sept 14 and final list of the candidates would be published on Sept 15 while elections would be held on Oct 10.