General elections: After PML-N, other political forces reach out to JUI-F

PESHAWAR: As February 8 general elections drew near, political parties began reaching out to ‘like-minded forces’ for electoral alliance to hammer out seat adjustment formula, ARY News reported on Sunday.

After PML-N, other political parties – including Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Awami National Party (ANP) and Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) – have reached out to Maulana Fazlur Rehman-led Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam (JUI-F).

In a statement, JUI-F spokesperson claimed that the PPP, ANP and QWP have reached out for seat adjustment in the upcoming general polls.

Mufti Mehmood – son of JUI-F chairman – will hold separate meetings with the representatives of the political parties tomorrow, the spokesperson said, noting that it had held two meetings with PML-N already.

“JUI-F has already opened doors for talks with all political parties”, the spokesperson added.

The political heat in the country picked up steam further after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) issued the election schedule following Supreme Court’s (SC) order.

Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan ordered the ECP to announce the election schedule by tonight after it suspended a Lahore High Court (LHC) order on the appointment of returning officers (ROs) and district returning officers (DROs) from the bureaucracy, which casted uncertainty over holding of general polls.

The Pakistan Supreme Court also issued a contempt of court notice to Barrister Umair Niazi – who filed the petition on behalf of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) – seeking an explanation as to why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against him.

Election schedule

According to a notification issued by the electoral watchdog, the public notice would be issued by the Returning Officer (RO) on December 19 with the dates for filing nominations from Dec 20-22.

The ECP, in its notification, stated that the names of the nominated candidates would be published on Dec 23 while the last date for scrutiny of their nomination papers would be from Dec 24-30.

Moreover, the last date for filing appeals against the decisions of Returning Officer (RO) on rejecting or accepting nomination papers is January 3. The last date for deciding the appeals by an appellate tribunal on Jan 10.

Read More: General polls: ECP issues election schedule after SC order

The notification stated that the revised list of candidates will be published on Jan 11 and the last date for withdrawal pf candidature is Jan 12.

Meanwhile, the electoral watchdog said that election symbols will be allotted to political parties on Jan 13 with polls set for Feb 8.

“The election programme shall also apply to the seats reserved for women and non-Muslims in the National and provincial assemblies. Last date of filling of separate priority list for seats reserved for women and non-Muslims before the ROs is Dec 22,” the notification concluded.