RAWALPINDI, March 27: Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan will contest elections from NA-56 in Rawalpindi and his party is likely to support former railway minister Sheikh Rashid in NA-55.   

Raja Tariq Kiani, a PTI leader and former district nazim of Rawalpindi, told Dawn that the parliamentary board meeting of the party held on Wednesday at a hotel in Islamabad had decided to field the PTI chairman from Rawalpindi’s National Assembly seat (NA-56).

In reply to a question, Mr Kiani said his party would support Sheikh Rashid Ahmed in NA-55. It may be noted that Sheikh Rashid had won from both the constituencies in the 2002 elections.

Mr Kiani was also a PTI candidate in NA-56. To a question about his participation in the general elections, he said his party chairman himself would be the candidate in the constituency and he would be working for him.

He said the parliamentary board also finalised the names of Colonel (retired) Ajmal Sabir for NA-52 Rawalpindi and Sadaqat Ali Abbasi for NA-50 in Murree. The remaining names would be announced on Thursday.

On the other hand, the nomination papers collection and submission continued in the district on Wednesday.

Seven more candidates filed their nomination papers on Wednesday taking the tally to nine for seven seats of National Assembly and 14 seats of provincial assembly.

Total 391 nomination forms were obtained from returning officers across the district. Among the candidates were three women.

On the third day, former MPA and PTI local leader Faizul Hasan Chohan submitted nomination forms for NA-56 as an independent candidate. PTI’s Colonel (retired) Shabir Awan submitted the forms for PP-14, Ahmed Shah and Tariq Mehmood for PP-2, Shakeel Ahmed for PP-1 and Tariq Mehmood for NA-50.

Earlier, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F)’s Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Tauheedi submitted nomination forms for NA-52 and independent candidate Nasarullah Khan for PP-14.

Three women collected nomination forms from returning officers. They were Hina Manzoor for NA-55, Riffat Akhter for PP-11 and Zarquna Sheikh for NA-52.

Meanwhile, District and Sessions Judge Syed Maroof Ahmed Ali held a meeting with the local administration to review the arrangements for the elections.

District Coordination Officer (DCO) Saqib Zafar, City Police Officer (CPO) Azhar Hameed Khokhar and assistant commissioners attended the meeting.

During the meeting, it was decided that the local administration would remove all the banners and wall-chalking from the district.While talking to Dawn, the DCO said the city district government had also called a meeting of printing press and advertisers to apprise them of the code of conduct issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan.

Under the code of conduct, they should not print huge banners and posters otherwise action will be taken against them.

He said the CDGR had already put the services of assistant commissioners in all the constituencies on the disposal of the district and sessions judges. — Aamir Yasin