GUJRAT: A total of 123 candidates have submitted their nomination papers for the seven PA seats in the district for the elections to the Punjab Assembly scheduled for April 30.

The nomination papers of former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, his wife Qaisera Elahi and son Moonis Elahi have been submitted for two Punjab Assembly seats of Gujrat -- PP-32 (Jalalpur Jattan) and PP-34 (Kunjah).

Nomination papers of Chaudhry Shafay Hussain, son of former prime minister and PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, have also been submitted for two PA seats -- PP-33 (Gujrat city) and PP-34 (Kunjah).

A legal team led by advocate Aamir Saeed Raan filed the nomination papers of Mr Elahi and his two family members, whereas Shafay Hussain personally went to the returning officers for filing his papers.

Parvez, wife submit papers for two seats

PML-N MNA Abid Raza Kotla, his elder brothers Tanveer Kotla, a former Gujrat district council chairman, and Naeem Raza Kotla, an ex-adviser to Punjab chief minister, have also filed their nomination papers for PP-29 (Kotla-Gulliana).

A former Kharian Tehsil Nazim Nadeem Asghar Kaira, Hamza Qamar Kaira son of PPP stalwart Qamar Zaman Kaira, former Punjab finance minister Tanveer Ashraf Kaira and his cousin Noman Aslam Kaira, son of ex-MPA Aslam Kaira, have also submitted their nomination papers for PP-30 (Lalamusa-Dinga).

Interestingly, Nadeem Kaira filed his papers from PA constituency that had been won by his father-in-law Mian Akhtar Hayat of PTI in 2018, who is again in the race as a nominee of Imran Khan’s party for the April 30 polls, as his nephew Mubeen Hayat, son of former Punjab caretaker chief minister, late Mian Afzal Hayat, has filed papers as his covering candidate.

Similarly, Shafay Hussain will be contesting against his uncle Parvez Elahi for PP-34, the constituency that Mr Elahi had never lost since 1985.

Two women candidates -- Mr Elahi’s wife Qaisara Elahi and Wazeerul Nissa advocate, a former ticket holder of the PPP and its Gujranwala division’s women wing president, have filed their papers in the district. Ms Nissa has submitted her papers for PP-33 (Gujrat city).

Former PML-N MNA Malik Haneef Awan and PTI ex-MPA Chaudhry Arshad are among 12 candidates for PP-28 (Sara-i-Alamgir-Kharian), while 24 candidates, the highest in the district, have filed their papers for PP-32 (Jalalpur Jattan), followed by 20 for PP-33 (Gujrat city), where ex-MPAs Saleem Sarwar Jaura of the PTI, Haji Nasir Mehmood and Imran Zafar of the PML-N, Mian Fakhar Pagganwala of the PPP, Ansar Dhool of Jamaat-i-Isalmi, Kashif Hussain of the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), have also filed their papers.

Gujrat Deputy Commissioner Safdar Virk, who is also the district returning officer and Khalid Mehmood, District Election Commissioner, kept monitoring the process of filing nomination papers through out the day.

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2023