NA-249 by-election: ECP continues scrutiny of nomination papers

KARACHI: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has continued the scrutiny process of nomination papers ahead of conducting by-elections in the NA-249 constituency, ARY News reported on Monday.

Returning Officer (RO) Sajjad Khattak approved the nomination papers of Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) candidate Fayyaz Qaimkhani and Pakistan Muslim League Junejo (PML-J) candidate Muhammad Ashraf.

The scrutiny of overall 13 nomination papers has been completed by the ECP, whereas, two out of 13 nomination papers were rejected. Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) candidate Waheed Shah and an independent candidate Zunaira Rehman’s nominations were rejected by the election commission staff.

Read: NA-249: PPP asks PML-N to withdraw candidate 

A total of 55 candidates of different political parties had submitted their nominations for the by-election in the NA-249 constituency.

The NA-249 seat was relinquished by the PTI’s Faisal Vawda, who had won the seat in the 2018 general election, beating PML-N’s Shehbaz Sharif by a small margin of 723 votes.

An appeal can be filed against the decision of the RO up to March 29. The last date on appeals against the returning officer’s decision by an Appellate Tribunal is April 05, while the nomination papers could be taken back by April 07.

The election symbols will be allotted to the candidate on April 08. Polling for the by-election in the NA-249 constituency in Karachi West will be held on April 29.