PESHAWAR: The returning officers for the five National Assembly and 14 provincial assembly constituencies of the provincial capital on Tuesday accepted nomination papers of 361 candidates and rejected those of 16 during scrutiny here.

For the National Assembly constituencies, nomination papers of all the 64 candidates were accepted.

Of these papers, 13 were for NA-27 Peshawar-I and NA-29 Peshawar-III each, nine for NA-28 Peshawar-II, 11 for NA-30 Peshawar IV, and 18 for NA-31 Peshawar-V.

Similarly, the returning officers accepted nomination papers of 297 candidates for 14 provincial assembly constituencies of Peshawar.

The accepted nomination papers totaled 12 in PK-66, 14 in PK-67, 16 in PK-68, PK-70 and PK-74 each, 15 in PK-69, 22 in PK-72, 29 in PK-73, 30 in PK-75 and PK-77 each, 32 in PK-76, 27 in PK-78, and 23 in PK-79, while six nomination papers were rejected in PK-66, four in PK-73, two in PK-67 and PK-78 each and one in PK-70 and PK-71 each.

Nomination papers of a PK-66 candidate, Saifullah Khan, were rejected for being a defaulter of the Rs121,290 dues of the SNGPL.

In the constituency, nomination papers of woman aspirant Raheela Sohail were turned down as her proposer and seconder didn’t belong to the constituency.

The papers of another election aspirant in same constituency, Ajmal Khan, were rejected as he was aged below 25 years, while those of PK-73 aspirant Nawaz Khan were rejected for being a defaulter of the Rs650,000 SNGPL dues.

Another candidate Mohammad Alam did not open a bank account for election expenses, 360 cleared to contest elections in Peshawar which was a requirement of the law, due to which his papers for PK- 67 were rejected.

Noted among the candidates for NA-27 Peshawar-I are former MNAs Noor Alam Khan of the PTI and Asma Alamgir of the PPP and former senator Haji Ghulam Ali of the JUI-F.

Noor Alam was elected in 2008 on the PPP ticket but later joined the PTI.

Besides Asma Alamgir, Sidra Qadeem and former MPA Sobia Shahid were also cleared to contest elections in the constituency.

Noted NA-28 candidates include former MNAs Sabir Awan of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and Arbab Aamir Ayub of the PTI. Farhan Jhagra, son of KP Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, has also been trying his luck in the same constituency.

Similarly, in NA-29 the provincial president of PML-N Amir Muqam, former PTI provincial minister Shah Farman and Arbab Kamal of the ANP have been contesting.

In NA-30 Peshawar-IV, former federal minister of PPP Arbab Alamgir, Sher Ali Arbab of the PTI and Mohammad Alamgir Khalil of the ANP have been contesting the coming elections.

On NA-31 Peshawar-V, former MNA Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour of the ANP, Haji Shaukat Ali of the PTI and Ziaullah Afridi of the PPP are in the running.

A rival candidate objected to the nomination papers of Haji Ghulam Bilour claiming the ANP leader was a defaulter of SNGPL dues.

However, Mr Bilour produced legal documents showing that the said amount was outstanding against a CNG station, which he had sold few years ago along with all liabilities.

Similarly, an objection was raised against Ziaullah Afridi by a candidate, who insisted that his rival was charged with corruption in an Ehtesab reference.

Mr Afridi insisted that the case was politically motivated by his rivals and that he had yet to be indicted in that case.

Provincial election commissioner Pir Maqbool Ahmad completed the scrutiny of nomination papers for the seats reserved for non-Muslims, women in the National Assembly, and women in the KP Assembly.

A total of 262 nomination papers were filed for 22 seats reserved for women in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 88 for nine seats reserved for women in the National Assembly from KP, and 73 for three seats reserved for non-Muslims in the provincial assembly.

Appeals against the orders of the returning officers can be filed by June 22.

The appellate tribunals will decide appeals until June 27. The last date for the withdrawal of nomination papers will be June 29, while the list of final candidates will be published the same day.

Election symbols will be allotted to candidates on June 30, while polling will take place on July 25.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2018