LARKANA: The nomination pap­ers of Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, Pakistan Peoples’ Party chairman, were accepted after scrutiny on Thursday.

His lawyer Farooq H. Naek, Nisar Ahmed Khuhro and other party workers and leaders were present in the courtroom when the process was completed and his nomination papers were accepted from NA-200 (Larkana-I).

The nomination papers of Nisar Khuhro, president PPP Sindh chapter, were also accepted after the returning officer had ruled out the objections raised by his opponent Moazzim Abbasi of Larkana Awami Ittehad for PS-11 (Larkana-II).

His [Khuhro’s] lawyer Asif Abdul Razzak Soomro was present during the scrutiny.

The papers of former Sindh home minister Sohail Anwar Siyal for PS-12 and Khursheed Junejo for NA-201 (Larkana-II) were also accepted.

The nomination papers of Mau­lana Rashid Mehmood Soomro, president of MMA Sindh contesting against Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on NA-200, were accepted.

As a gesture of goodwill, Mr Soomro congratulated Nisar Khu­hro in the courtroom on acceptance of his nomination papers and requested him “to vote for me”.

“I will also visit your house for the purpose [getting vote],” Mr Soomro quipped.

Nisar refused to give him vote and told him “you will also get the same answer on visiting my house”.

Forms rejected

HYDERABAD: Scrutiny of nomination forms of candidates continued on third consecutive day on Thursday in which forms of various candidates were rejected.

According to details, nomination forms of Grand Democratic Alliance candidates Naheed Khan, Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah and Ameer Ali Thebo were accepted while nomination forms of Pak Sarzameen Party’s Babar Chandio were rejected on NA-225 on dual nationality grounds.

Nomination form of Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Aftab Shaikh was rejected on NA-226 as he failed to turn up for scrutiny.

Nomination forms of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf candidate Zulfiqar Halepoto and Soulat Mirza, PML-N’s Bilal Qureshi and others were accepted for NA-226.

Nomination form of Sufi Raza Mohammad Abbasi of Tehreek-i-Labbaik Ya Rasulallah was rejected on technical grounds on NA-227.

Forms of MQM’s Waseem Hussain, Siraj Rajput and Nadeem Siddiqui, PSP’s Mohammad Rashid Arain and PML-N’s Shabbir Hassan Ansari were accepted for NA-227.

Candidatures of PPP’s Jam Khan Shoro, his brother Kashif Shoro and Sindh United Party’s Roshan Ali Buriro were accepted for PS-62.

Mehboob Abro, former PPP activist, had filed objections over candidature of Jam Khan Shoro, which were rejected by the returning officer.

Four nomination forms each were accepted and rejected for PS-63.

Nomination forms of Mohammad Ismail, Habibullah, Umer Khalil and Qurban Ali Sodhro were accepted and forms of Altaf Hussain, Sohail Khan, Atif Ali and Sindh Taraqqi-pasand Party’s Hoat Khan Gadehi were rejected.

Candidatures of PPP’s Abdul Jabbar Khan, MQM’s Anwar Ahmed, MMA’s Shahid Nabi, PSP’s Mohammad Aijaz Shaikh, Tehreek-i-Labbaik Ya Rasulallah’s Rashid Ali and others were accepted for PS-64.

Nomination form of All Pakistan Muslim League’s Jahanzaib Yousufzai, PSP’s Mohammad Arshad and Farhan Sabir, PTI’s Osama Hafeez, Tehreek-i-Labbaik Ya Rasulallah’s Mohammad Tahir, MQM’s Mushtaq Ahmed, Mohajir Qaumi Movement’s Syed Sarwar Fareed and Sunni Tehreek’s Mohammad Ali Malik were accepted for PS-65.

Nomination forms of Ali Raza, Mohammad Asif Memon and Syed Aman Ali Rizvi were accepted for PS-66, while candidatures of independent candidate Abdul Waheed Brohi and Tehreek-i-Allah-o-Akbar’s Faisal Nadeem Shaikh were rejected.

Nomination forms of PPPs’ Sagheer Qureshi and Manthar Ali Jatoi, PSP’s Mir Ateequllah Talpur and independent candidates Irfan Anjum and Jawaid Baloch were accepted for PS-67.

Zardari to celebrate Eid in Nawabshah

NAWABSHAH: PPP-Parliamen­tarians (PPP-P) president and former head of state Asif Ali Zardari returned to Nawabshah from Lahore on Thursday. Party and family sources said he would celebrate Eidul Fitr with other family members in his home town.

During his stay in Nawabshah, he would receive delegations of party leaders and activists from Shaheed Benazirabad (formerly Nawabshah) district and other parts of Sindh as part of his party’s election campaign, the sources said.

Meanwhile, the objections filed by Advocate Ghulam Sarwar Dahiri against former PPP MNA Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah against the latter’s nomination for the NA-214 Nawabshah-II seat were overruled during the ongoing scrutiny of papers.

Returning officer Sohrab Khan Brohi, rejecting the objections, accepted Mr Shah’s papers.

Advocate Dahiri had claimed that Mr Shah possessed an iqama (employment and temporary residence in a Gulf state) and also possessed a fake [bachelor’s] degree, maintained bank accounts abroad and failed to get any development work carried out in his constituency while remaining an MNA.

Nominations challenged

SUKKUR: PTI leader and a former Senate chairman Muhammad­mian Soomro, who is contesting for the NA-196 Jacobabad seat, has challenged the nomination of his PPP rival Mir Aijaz Hussain Jakhrani (a former MNA and minister) on the grounds that the latter had not declared his assets in his form. The matter has been put off to June 19.

Mr Jakhrani told his supporters at the RO’s office that he would also file objections against Mr Soomro on 18th, claiming that he did not disclose his London property and possibly possessed dual nationality.

The hearings of the objections filed against the nominations of PPP candidates Ali Mohammed Mahar (NA-205), Jam Ikramullah Dha­rejo (PS-21) and Sardar Moham­med Bakhsh Mahar (PS-20) were fixed for June 18.

While Jam Ikramullah Dharejo has been accused of having defau­lted on a financial institution’s loan, Ali Mohammed Mahar faces the allegation of having failed to get any development work carried out during his previous tenure as a lawmaker as well as having been involved in the kidnapping of two brothers of a lawyer, Qambar Shah. The objection against Sardar Mohammed Bakhsh Mahar’s nomination is that he did not declare his 126 acres of agriculture land in his papers.

The candidates from Ghotki whose nomination papers were accepted included Advocate Gul Mohammed Kalwar of the Tabdeeli Pasand Party and Advocate Lal Bux Ghoto of the Sind United Party (PS-21); and Mir Khalid Khan Loond of PPP and Maulana Ishaq Leghari of JUI-F (NA-204).

Decisions on the objection against nomination of former provincial minister Jam Mehtab Khan Dahar (PPP) and Shaharyar Shar (PTI) on PS-18 are pending before the returning officer concerned.

A total of 30 candidates have filed their nomination papers for two National Assembly seats while 67 for four Sindh Assembly seats of Ghotki district.

Published in Dawn, June 15th, 2018