Nominations of 1,076 political parties’ backed candidates rejected

ISLAMABAD: Returning officers across the country have rejected the nomination papers of 1,076 candidates backed by 16 political parties to contest the upcoming general election.

The nomination papers of 2,164 independent candidates have also been rejected by ROs on various grounds.

According to Hum Investigation Team, the district election offices have received nomination papers of 28,626 candidates, out of which 88% have been accepted. However, more than 27,000 candidates, or 96%, have not mentioned their party affiliation in their nomination papers.

The sources said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has suffered the most losses, as 624 of its candidates have been disqualified. The PTI candidate had submitted 2,620 nomination papers for 859 general seats of the national and provincial assemblies, but only 1,996 of them have been approved.

The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) have also faced rejections, as 84 and 76 of their candidates, respectively, have been declared ineligible by returning officers.

Other parties that have been affected by the disqualifications include the Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP), the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), the Balochistan National Party (BNP), the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), the Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P), and the Awami National Party (ANP).

Nomination papers of Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Zain cleared

The ROs have rejected nomination papers of 32 candidates backed by the Balochistan National Party, 29 candidates backed by the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, 25 candidates supported by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, and 21 candidates supported by the Awami National Party.

The investigation also revealed that 98 candidates who were backed by the Balochistan Awami Party, the Tehreek-e-Insaf Parliamentarian, the Pakistan Istehkam Party, the Jamaat-e-Islami, the National Party, the Awami Muslim League  and the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) have also been rejected.

The candidates whose nomination papers have already filed appeals against the decisions of the returning officers. The final list of candidates will be announced on January 15, 2024. The general election is scheduled to be held on February 18, 2024.