ECP revises stages of Election Programme for reserved seats

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has revised various stages of the Election Programme for reserved seats for women and non-Muslims in the National and provincial assemblies, ARY News reported on Friday.

According to the revised schedule, last date for the scrutiny of the nomination papers will be held on 13th of the next month, while the last date for filing of appeals against decisions of the Returning officer is 16th January 2024.

Revised list of candidates will be published on 20th of the next month. Candidates can withdraw their names by 22nd of the next month and the final list of the contesting candidates will be issued on 23rd of January 2024.

It is pertinent to mention here that the election process entered its second phase on Monday with the returning officers embarking upon the weeklong task of scrutinising the thousands of nomination papers filed during December 22-24 period for the National Assembly and the four provincial assemblies.

The process of scrutiny of the nomination papers would continue until December 30 after which the candidates could challenge the decisions of the returning officers, if any, in appellate tribunals until January 3, 2024, which would be decided by January 10, according to the election schedule.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) released the data of papers, which showed that the number of candidates in this election is the highest ever in the country.

Overall 28,626 candidates for both national and provincial assemblies submitted their nomination papers – 7,913 for the 266 general seats of the National Assembly and 18,546 for the 593 general seats of the four provincial assemblies.

The numbers are way more than the nomination papers filed in the 2018 general elections. In the previous election five year ago a total of 21,482 nomination papers were submitted, including 5,473 for the general seats of the National Assembly.