Scrutiny of nominations: 80 rejected in Multan, Faisalabad, Bahawalpur

The candidates were disallowed for fake degrees, bank loan default and land grab.

BAHAWALPUR/ MULTAN/ FAISALABAD:

Returning officers on Sunday rejected nomination papers of 80 candidates in Faisalabad, Multan and Bahawalpur.

In Faisalabad, nomination papers of Rana Zahid Tauseef were rejected for NA-81 and PP-61 for bank loan default. Tauseef was elected a member of the National Assembly from NA-81 in 1997 and made a parliamentary secretary. In 2002, he was elected the district nazim.

Former state minister Rana Asif Tauseef also faced disappointment after his papers were rejected for NA-80 and PP-61 over similar consideration. He had sought to run as a Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid candidate.

Ashraf Mughal’s nomination for NA-82 was rejected for having a fake LLB degree. Former federal minister Chaudhary Mushtaq Cheema and his brother former city district nazim Mumtaz Cheema, both seeking to run from NA-83, were also disallowed for being bank loan defaulters.

Sheikh Ejaz Ahmad from PP-68, Imran Sher Ali from NA-82 and former MPA Khawaja Islam from PP-72 were disallowed for having fake degrees.



Nomination papers of Sardar Dildar Ahmad Cheema were rejected after he failed to appear on being summoned by the returning officer.

In Multan, nomination papers of 19 candidates for National Assembly and 50 for provincial assembly were rejected on Sunday.

According to the lists displayed by returning officers, one nomination paper for NA-148, two for NA-149, 12 for NA-150 and four for NA-151 were rejected. Khalid Hanif Lodhi, Ejaz Janjua, Muhammad Anwar Ansari, Al Haaj Peer Muhammad Din, Farah Noreen, Muhammad Jamshaid Ali Sahu, Iftikhar Noon, Catherine Nazir, Muhammad Asif Jah and Faiz Ahmad Khan were among rejected candidates.

Of the 386 candidates who filed papers for nine provincial assembly constituencies, 50 were disallowed. Of these, 12 candidates were for PP-194, eight for PP-195, seven for PP-196, five for PP-197, 10 for PP-198, four for PP-199 and four for PP-200.

Appeals against scrutiny decisions can be filed until April 10. They will be decided by April 17.

Land grab, ID card tampering 

In Bahawalpur, papers of two Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz candidates— Mian Najeebuddin Owaisi and his son Muhammad Usman— were rejected.

Former MPA Owaisi, who sought to run from NA-184, was accused of illegally occupying land belonging to Population Welfare Department, the Health Department, the Highway Department and the Irrigation Department.

Advocate Syed Mujahid Hussain, an independent candidate from NA-178, had alleged that Owaisi had sold some of the lands, constructed 47 shops on the Health Department land and rented them. He also accused Owaisi of grabbing land reserved for a graveyard. Owaisi was also accused of not paying agriculture tax and tampering with his national identity card and changing his picture.

Muhammad Usman’s papers were rejected for not mentioning in his papers where he got the money to study in Canada and for frequent visits to America, Canada and England.

Nawab Salahuddin Abbasi and Khadija Waran now remain in the run for NA-184.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 8^th, 2013.