GDA fields Nusrat Seher Abbasi in Khursheed Shah's constituency

Candidates can submit nomination papers till tomorrow

KARACHI: As elections draw near, many notable political personalities in Sindh have been filing their nomination papers to contest the polls for national or provincial assembly seats.

The Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) has given a ticket to Nusrat Seher Abbasi, former MPA of the Pakistan Muslim League - Functional (PML-F) that is now a constituent of the GDA, to contest the upcoming elections from Sukkur against Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) veteran leader Syed Khursheed Shah who was also the leader of the opposition in the last National Assembly.

Shah had received 85,120 votes in the last elections. Speaking to the media, Abbasi said the GDA would defeat the PPP in Sukkur in an exemplary manner. Abbasi, who has served twice as the member of the Sindh Assembly, has started her electoral campaign in the constituency.



The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has also fielded its candidate Tahir Hussain Shah for this seat, however, there are reports that the PTI candidate might withdraw in support of the GDA, which has emerged as a significant force against the PPP in Sindh.

Meanwhile, various political parties have announced the names of their candidates to contests the elections from Karachi. Many aspiring candidates for the reserved seats for women and minorities have also been collecting forms from the Election Commission of Pakistan.

Rahila Tiwana, former deputy speaker of the Sindh Assembly who has joined the GDA, Raja Arif Sultan of Jamaat-e-Islami, Deewan Chand Chawla of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) - Pakistan, J Parkash of the PTI and Nand Kumar of the PML-F were among others who received the forms.



Speaking to the media, provincial election commissioner Yousaf Khattak said the candidates contesting the election could submit their nomination forms by tomorrow (Wednesday) and scrutiny of the nomination papers would begin by June 14.

"The last date for filing an appeal against the decision of the returning officer is June 19 and the revised list of candidates will be published on June 27," Khattak said, adding that the last date for the withdrawal of candidature is June 28, whereas, the polling will be held on July 25.