170 candidates have filed their nomination papers with the ECP.
ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan on Wednesday started the scrutiny process of the nomination papers for the upcoming Senate elections. The scrutiny process will continue till tomorrow (Thursday).
The nomination papers include 29 candidates from Punjab, 39 from Sindh, 51 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 41 from Balochistan and 10 from the federal capital.
The ECP today approved the nomination papers of PTI’s Abdul Hafeez Shaikh and Fauzia Arshad for general and women seats from Islamabad.
PTI’s Zarqa Taimoor and independent Jamshed Iqbal Cheema were approved for the senate seats from Punjab.
PPP’s Sherry Rehman’s nomination papers were accepted for the general seat and Palwasha Khan’s for the women’s seat from Sindh. The nomination papers of PPP’s Saleem Mandviwala and Sadiq Memon along with Jam Mehtab and Dost Ali Jaisar have also been accepted.
The nomination papers of the People’s Party’s Farhatullah Babar were also approved.
PML-Q nominated candidate Kamil Ali Agha paper also approved for the senate seats from Punjab.
PML-N candidate Azam Nazeer Tarar nomination papers were deferred till tomorrow. Tarar has been asked to submit the party’s ticket by 5:00 pm tomorrow. In the absence of the party ticket, his nomination papers could be approved as an independent candidate.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, during scrutiny, the nomination papers of all Jamat Islami candidates approved, which includes Dr Ataur Rehman for the general seat, Dr Muhammad Iqbal for a technocrat, Inayat Begum for women seat and Javed Gill for minorities seat.
Meanwhile, the Election commission also prepares a code of conduct. According to the statement, ECP has invited political parties to consult on the code of conduct on February 22.
A code of conduct has been prepared by the ECP to ensure transparency in the Senate polls. It has to be followed by political parties, candidates, voters and election agents.
On the other hand, the candidates could file appeals against approval or rejection of nomination papers on February 20. The last date for disposing of the appeals is Feb 23.
The revised list of candidates will be published on February 24, while the candidates could take back their nomination papers on February 25.
The Senate elections are scheduled to be held on March 03.
