PESHAWAR: The relevant returning officers for the National Assembly and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly constituencies and seats reserved for women and non-Muslims issued public notices across the province here on Friday inviting nomination papers by the candidates for the general elections.

The returning officers issued the public notice under Section 57 (3) of the Elections Act, 2017, making public the schedule for the general elections according to which the nomination papers could be filed from June 2 to June 6 and polling will take place on July 25.

Names of the nominated candidates will be displayed on June 7 whereas scrutiny of nomination papers by the returning officers will take place until June 14.

Symbols allotment, final list of candidates on 29th

The last date for filing of appeals against the decisions of the returning officers will be June 19, while the last date for deciding the appeals by the appellate tribunal will be June 26.

The revised list of candidates will be made public on June 27 and the date for withdrawal of nomination papers will be June 28.

Allocation of symbols to the candidates and list of contesting candidates will be issued on June 29.

Provincial Election Commissioner, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pir Maqbool Ahmad is the returning officers for the seats reserved for women and non-Muslims in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and women reserved seats in the National Assembly from KP.

He issued the public notice in relation to the nine seats reserved for women in the NA from KP, 22 seats reserved for women in KP Assembly and three seats reserved for non-Muslims in the KP Assembly.

Unlike previous polls when the National Assembly constituencies in Peshawar began from NA-1 Peshawar-I, after the delimitation of constituencies, the National Assembly constituencies of Peshawar starts from NA-27 Peshawar 1.

Moreover, the number of NA constituencies of Peshawar has increased to five from four.

In Peshawar, five returning officers, including Mohammad Saeed Amjad, Shah Waliullah Hamid Hashmi, Javedur Rehman, Tanveer Iqbal and Abid Sarwar, issued the public notice for NA-27 to NA-31 constituencies, respectively.

Moreover, unlike previous polls, the number of provincial assembly constituencies in Peshawar has increased to 14 from the previous 11. The returning officers of all 14 constituencies from PK-66 Peshawar I to PK-79, Peshawar-XIV, have issued the public notices in their respective constituencies.

All returning officers for the general seats are judicial officers.

The Election Commission of Pakistan has already announced that the priority lists of candidates for the seats reserved for women and non-Muslims have to be submitted until June 6 and thereafter, no changes could be made to those lists.

The minimum permissible age for a candidate under the Constitution is 25 years. The candidates had also to deposit fee of Rs30,000 with the nomination paper for National assembly constituency and Rs20,000 fee with nomination paper for a provincial assembly seat.

Under Section 132 of the Elections Act, 2017, the permissible limit of election expenses incurred by a candidate for the NA is Rs4 million, whereas that of a candidate for the provincial assembly is Rs2 million.

A candidate has to open a separate bank account for the election expenses and has to mention the same in his or her nomination papers.

Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2018