Election 2024: Over 3,000 aspiring candidates face rejection

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday released official data, showing 3,240 candidates aspiring to contest elections at national and provincial levels had their nomination papers rejected by returning officers (ROs) in the recently concluded scrutiny process.

As per data released by the ECP, 1,024 candidates were denied eligibility to contest National Assembly elections. Additionally, 2,216 individuals, failed to secure approval for the provincial assembly race.

Out of 25,951 submissions, the ROs green-lighted 22,711 candidates. For the National Assembly, 6,449 candidates received approval, while 1,024 faced rejection.

The ROs accepted 16,262 nominations for various provincial assembly seats. Punjab witnessed the highest number of rejections (521) for National Assembly nominations, followed by Sindh (166), Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (152), Balochistan (92), and Islamabad Capital Territory (93).

For provincial assembly seats, the ROs rejected nomination papers of 943 candidates in Punjab; 520 in Sindh; 386 in Balochistan and 367 in the K-P, making a total of 2,216. The total number of people who filed nomination papers to contest provincial assembly elections was 18,478.

Following the completion of two phases of election process, in the third phase, appeals against the acceptance or rejection of nomination papers can be submitted by Wednesday and decisions on these appeals will be made by the 10th of this month.

The preliminary list of candidates will be displayed on 11th and candidates can withdraw their nomination papers by the 12th of this month.

The electoral symbols will be allotted on the 13th of this month while polling for the general elections will be held on the 8th of next month.