News
Friday, February 17, 2012
All 12 Senate candidates in Punjab elected unopposed* ECP accepts nomination papers of 30 Sindh candidates
LAHORE/ KARACHI/ PESHAWAR: All 12 nominated Senate candidates belonging to the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and PML-Quaid were elected unopposed in Punjab, while the Election Commission accepted nomination papers of 30 candidates in Sindh, but rejected those of three independent candidates in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
According to sources, all 12 nominees were elected unopposed as the process of scrutiny of the nomination papers had been completed in Punjab.
Other candidates had withdrawn their papers while the Election Commission rejected the papers of all four independent candidates, including Mohsin Leghari, in Punjab.
Punjab has 12 seats, including seven general seats, two reserved seats of technocrats, two reserved seats for women and one reserved seat for minorities, and all three major political parties in the provincial assembly - PML-N, PPP and PML-Q - managed to get their candidates elect unopposed.
According to the sources, after the rejection or withdrawal of several candidates from the Senate elections, Aitzaz Ahsan, Babar Awan, Ishaq Dar, Kamil Ali Agha, Zulfiqar Khosa, Rafiq Rajwana, Khan Zafarullah, M Hamza, Aslam Gill, Khalida Perveen Mohsin Qureshi, Nuzhat Sadique and Kamran Michael have been elected unopposed as their nomination papers had been accepted by the Election Commission.
The Election Commission rejected the nomination papers of PML-Q member Mohsin Leghari, who appeared as an independent candidate without getting permission from his party.
The opposition leader in the Punjab Assembly, Raja Riaz Ahmad, raised objection against Mohsin Leghari that he had no party so he could not contest the Senate elections, which was endorsed by Election Commissioner Mehboob Anwar.
While other candidates, including PML-N’s Anusha Rehman, Najma Hameed, Muhammad Sarwar, Muhammad Afzal Advocate, Muhammad Bilal advocate and PPP’s Yasmin Akhtar withdrew their nomination papers on party directions. Nomination papers of four independent candidates, including Muhammad Ibrahim Bilal, Sarfaraz Qureshi, Shahzad Munchi and Mohsin Leghari have been rejected.
On the reserved seats for women, PPP’s Khalida and PML-N’s Nuzhat have been elected while Kamran Michael of the PML-Q has been elected on the reserved seat for minorities. PML-Q’s Kamil, PPP’s Babar Awan, Aslam Gill and PML-N’s Zulfiqar Khosa, Rafiq Rajwana, Zafarullah and M Hamza’s nomination forms have been accepted on general seats.
Provincial Election Commissioner Sono Khan Baloch, who is also returning officer for the Senate elections in Sindh, on Thursday accepted nomination papers of 30 candidates out of a total of 32.
The candidates whose forms had been accepted for seven general seats, include PPP’s Raza Rabbani, Saeed Ghani, Dr Karim Khawaja, Mukhtiar Ahmed alias Ajiz Dhamrah and Rashid Rabbani. The MQM candidates were Kanwar Naveed Jamil, Nasrin Jalil, Barrister Farogh Nasim, Col (r) Syed Tahir Hussain Mashhadi, Arshad Abdullah and Syed Mustafa Kamal.
Nomination papers of four candidates had been accepted for two seats reserved for technocrats. They include PPP’s Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh and Dr Karim Khawaja, and MQM’s Farogh Nasim and Arshad Abdullah.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Election Commissioner Sher Afgan, who is also returning officer for the upcoming Senate elections, rejected nomination papers of three independent candidates against general seats.
The papers of former senator Ammar Ahmed Khan, Muhammad Tahir and Nek Muhammad, candidates for general seats, were rejected on the first day of the scrutiny of the nomination papers.
The scrutiny of the nomination papers of the candidates contesting against seats reserved for technocrats, women and minorities would be held today (Friday). staff report/app
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk