GUJRAT: The ruling Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf (PTI) faced a setback on Friday when nomination papers of its candidate for the PP-38 (Sialkot) by-poll were rejected by the returning officer during scrutiny.

The seat had fallen vacant following the death of PML-N MPA Khush Akhtar Subhani a few weeks ago. After the scrutiny process, the RO rejected the papers of PTI’s Qaiser Iqbal Baryar and declared the candidature of 18 others as valid for the July 28 vote.

Objecting to Baryar’s nomination papers for being a dual national, a voter of the area said he applied for renouncing his British nationality after submission of his nomination papers.

Mr Baryar who has been president of the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), told Dawn he had renounced his British nationality a couple of days prior to filing nomination papers and announced moving the election tribunal against the decision of returning officer on Monday (June 21).

PP-38 by-election on July 28

Adding, he said that he had produced the proof of his application for renouncing the nationality along with an email of the British home department, acknowledging his application, but the RO did not accept it. He said the issuance of required certificate might take some time due to the Covid-19 situation in the UK, but was hopeful that the tribunal would accept his plea.

Appeals against the decisions of returning officer can be filed till June 22 and last date for deciding the appeals by the appellant tribunal is June 28, whereas revised list of candidates will be published on June 29. Last date for the withdrawal of candidature is June 30 and election symbols will be allotted on July 1.

Another issue haunting the ruling party in PP-38 is the presence of a couple of `spoilers’ within the PTI. Former MPA of PPP Tahir Mehmood Hundli who is considered close to Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan as well as Saeed Bhalli who was the runner up in PP-38 as a PTI nominee in 2018 general elections by securing some 40,000 votes, have filed their nomination papers as well.

Sources said efforts were on to win the support of both the disgruntled party leaders for Mr Baryar. Sources said local party leader Tahir Hundli had held a meeting with the Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar in Lahore on Friday along with Dr Firdous Awan where senior leadership persuaded him to withdraw his candidature and he was given surety of being accommodated in the near future. He met Chief Minister Usman Buzdar as well and an official release issued after the meeting said he had withdrawn from the contest.

Though Qaiser Baryar is a new comer to the electoral politics of Sialkot, some other members of his family have been active in the local politics since long, including two brothers ,former PML-Q MPA Ansar Baryar and PML-Q senior vice president Saleem Baryar.

Sources said in case of rejection of Qaisar Baryar’s appeal by the election tribunal, another young member of the Baryar family, Hassan Saleem, a scion of Saleem Baryar, might become the PTI candidate as the family and the PTI were desperate in winning the seat by utilising their financial resources and ruling party’s influence. Hassan Saleem Baryar’s nomination papers have been cleared in the scrutiny.

The constituency comprises rural areas in the outskirts of Sialkot city dominated politically by renowned Variyo family. Late Kush Akhtar Subhani had won this seat in 2018 whereas his brother Tariq Subhani had bagged it in 2013. Both are the scions of late ex-MNA Akhtar Viryo.

Tariq Subhani is now the PML-N candidate while his first cousin Armaghan Subhani is the MNA from the area.

Published in Dawn, June 19th, 2021