ECP rejects nominations of PTI, PML-N Senate candidates from Punjab

LAHORE: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday continued the scrutiny process of the nomination papers filed by Senate candidates from Punjab and approved 20 nominations, rejected two of them while three candidates withdrew their papers, ARY NEWS reported.

According to details, the ECP approved nominations of 10 candidates each from PML-N and PTI and one each of PPP and PML-Q. The election body rejected nominations of two candidates including PML-N’s Pervaiz Rasheed and PTI’s Neelum Irshad.

The ECP’s returning officer rejected Rasheed’s papers on the premise that he has not paid millions of rupees he owes the Punjab House. A total of six objections were raised on his nomination for a Senate seat.

The commission overruled five of the objections but rejected his papers over non-payment of Rs9.5 million dues.

Moreover, three candidates withdrew their nomination while Dr Rubina did not appear before the ECP for scrutiny of her nomination papers.

The candidates whose nominations got approved included PML-Q’s Kamil Ali Agha and PPP’s Azeem ul Haq Minhas.

The 10 PTI candidates whose papers were approved included Jamshed Iqbal Cheema, Dr Zarqa, Muhammad Madni, Umar Sarfaraz Cheema, Barrister Ali Zafar, Saifullah Niazi, Aijaz Chaudhry, Zaheer Abbas Khokhar, Aijaz Minhas, and Aon Abbas.

The PML-N candidates whose candidature was approved for Senate included Zahid Hamid, Azam Nazir Tarar, Saiful Malook Khokhar, Irfan Siddiqui, Baligur Rehman, Saira Afzal Tarar, Sajid Mir, Afnanullah Khan and Sadia Abbasi.