ECP deadline for candidates to submit nomination papers for polls expires 

The first phase of the general elections concluded after the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) deadline for filing nomination papers ended on Sunday, Express News reported.

The process of filing nominations was supposed to be completed on Friday, but the ECP extended the three-day time period to five days at the request of the various political parties, including the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

Despite the Sunday break, officials, assistant officers, and staff were present at ECP offices nationwide. Stringent security measures were implemented outside the Returning Officers' and Assistant Returning Officers' offices on this occasion.

The scrutiny process for nomination papers will commence on December 25 and will continue until December 31.

Read: Candidates continue to file nominations

Nawaz Sharif, the supreme leader of the PML-N, submitted nomination papers for NA-130. Sharif has been summoned for scrutiny on December 26.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Dr Yasmin Rashid has also filed her nomination papers from NA-130.

Veteran politician and former federal minister, Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, and PTI leader Sher Afzal Marwat filed nomination papers for the NA-32 constituency in Peshawar.

Similarly, former Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Mahmood Khan has filed nomination papers for NA 2, NA 3, and NA 4 Swat. He also submitted nomination papers for PK-4 Swat.

53 nomination papers were filed for women-reserved seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Saturday was the fourth day and thousands more papers were filed by the candidates from all the political parties, including Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and others.

The prominent politicians who filed papers on Saturday included PTI founder Imran Khan for NA-122 in Lahore; PML-N Chief Organiser Maryam Nawaz for NA-119 and NA-120, Lahore; Akhtar Mengal of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) for NA-264, Quetta; Jamat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi Ameer Hafiz Naeemur Rehman for NA-246 and NA-250, Karachi; former opposition leader Raja Riaz for NA-104 Faisalabad, and several others.

Imran Khan had also filed the nomination papers from his hometown constituency in Mianwali. However, he received a setback earlier this week, when the Islamabad High Court (IHC) turned down his petition for suspending his conviction in the Toshakhana case.

Now, the PTI founder and former prime minister, who is currently lodged in the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, looked to the Supreme Court to becoming eligible to contest the elections, as he challenged the IHC decision in the Supreme Court.

Read more: Entire PTI shouldn’t be blamed for May 9: PM

Imran petitioned to the Supreme Court to suspend his conviction in the Toshakhana case until the final decision of his appeal pending in the IHC. However, the Registrar’s Office raised objection that the documents attached with the appeal were incomplete. The plea could now be re-filed by January 6.

In the third phase, appeals against the acceptance or rejection of the nomination papers can be submitted until January 3, 2024 with decisions expected by the 10th of January. Then the ECP will release the updated list of candidates on the 11th of January.

Read: ECP summons Establishment Division secy

The candidates will have January 12 to withdraw their nomination papers. After which date, the ECP will allocate the electoral symbols to the candidate on January 13. The voting in the general elections will take place February 8.

Meanwhile, the ECP has given more time to foreign observers, who want to monitor the general elections, to submit their applications from December 31 to January 20, an ECP official said. He said that the ECP had printed over 200,000 accreditation cards for the election coverage.

The election-24 is being held on the basis of newly-demarcated constituencies after the digital census. There are several cases pending in the courts over the new delimitation. The ECP said on Saturday it would decide about the objection to the delimitation after compiling the election results.

With additional input from APP