By Saad Saud
ISLAMABAD–Returning Officer for Federal CapitalSher Afgan has declared the nomination papers of Mushahid HussainSayed and Usman Saifullah as correct.
According to an official of Election Commission, thecandidates of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) Dr Mazhar Hussain Mirzaand Muhammad Umer have been asked to re-submit their papers aftercorrecting some minor objections.
The nomination papers of 16 Federally Administered TribalAreas (FATA) candidates would be scrutinized by Returning OfficerAkhtar H Sabir on Friday. According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) four candidates including Dr Mazhar Hussain Mirza, Mohammad Umer Mughalof Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), Usman Saifullah of PakistanPeoples Party and Mushahid Hussain Sayed of PML Q are vying forSenate seat from the federal capital.
While 16 candidates including Sahibzada Abdul Salam,Hameedullah Jan Afridi, Malik Abdul Rehman, Abdul Waheed Khan,Mohammad Saleh Shah, Aurangzeb Khan, Hilalur Rehman, MNA MunirOrakzai, Dr Abdul Qadir, Sajid Hussain Turi, Najmul Hasan, JawadHussain, Hidayatullah, Bismillah Khan, Abid Malik and Husain Khanare contesting for four FATA seats.
For single technocrat seat Mushahid Hussain Sayed iscontesting against Dr Mazhar Hussain of PML-N. While Usman Saifullahof PPP will contest against Umer Mughal.
A total of 166 candidates are contesting election on 54seats. Including 46 Independent candidates, PPP candidates 36,Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) 22, Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-i-Azam (PML-Q) 14, Awami National Party (ANP) 17, Mutahida QuomiMovement (MQM) 15, Jamiat Ulema-e- Islam (Fazal) (JUI-F) 11,Pakistan Muslim League (Functional) (PML-F) 2, BNP (Awami), NationalParty 1.
For 12 Punjab seats, 25 candidates are in the run. Sindh32, Khyber Pakhtoonkhaw 38 and Baluchistan 51 are contesting Senateelections. As per schedule announced earlier by the Election Commissionof Pakistan (ECP), the scrutiny on nomination papers would becontinued till Friday.
The appeals regarding objections would be disposed of onFebruary 22 and 23. The finalised list of the candidates will alsobe announced on February 24. The elections are being held on 54 seats including 11 fromeach province, four Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) andtwo sets from federal capital while four minority members (one fromeach province) would also be elected for the first time.
National Assembly members will elect to Senate one memberagainst general seat and other on seat reserved for technocratsincluding Ulema from Federal Capital.
