QUETTA: The Provincial Election Commission has deferred till Sunday its decision to accept or reject 112 nomination papers filed for two National Assembly seats in Quetta for want of reports from the Higher Education Commission, Federal Board of Revenue and other institutions. Sources said on Friday that 59 candidates had submitted their papers for NA-259 (Quetta city) and 62 for NA-260 (Quetta-Chagai).

According to them, former minister Zubaida Jalal submitted papers for two seats reserved for women, one for the National Assembly and the other for Balochistan Assembly.

Officials in the Election Commission Balochistan said the scrutiny of papers of 26 candidates for the two NA seats in Quetta had been completed and accepted conditionally. Those who filed nomination papers for NA-259 include Dr Ruqayya Hashmi of the PML-Q, Mir Maqbool Lehri of the PPP, retired Gen Abdul Qadir Baloch of the PML-N, Agha Hassan Baloch of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal, Mir Salahuddin Rind, Hafiz Hamdullah of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl and Advocate Kamran Khan.

Hafiz Fazal Mohammad Baraich and Haji Manzoor Mengal are among those contesting for the NA-260 seat.

Meanwhile, scrutiny of six provincial assembly seats in Quetta continued for the fifth consecutive day on Friday.

According to the officials, nomination papers of five of the 35 candidates for PB-2 Quetta have been rejected; papers of five of the 33 candidates for PB-3 rejected; nomination forms of two of the 65 candidates for PB-4 rejected; papers of eight of the 78 candidates for PB-5 rejected; and nomination papers of 18 of the 62 candidates for PB-1 Quetta have been rejected.