General elections 2024: Over 128m voters to decide fate of political parties

ISLAMABAD: Over 128.5 million registered voters in Pakistan would decide the fate of 175 political and religious parties in the forthcoming general election, scheduled for February 8, 2024.

As the country is heading towards much-sought-after polls next year, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) released data showing the total number of registered voters in Pakistan.

According to the data, the total registered voters in Pakistan are 128,585,760 including 69,263,704 male and 59,322,056 female, who would decide the fate of about 175 political and religious parties on February 8, 2024.

Today, the Returning Officers (ROs) issued public notice for filing of nomination papers for the national and provincial assemblies’ seats, paving the way for smooth conduct of general election.

Addressing district returning officers (DROs) in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Secretary Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry said that today was a very important day in the country’s election history after the ROs had issued public notice, inviting candidates to file nomination papers for the national and provincial assemblies’ seats.

He assured the DROs all-out support in conduct of free, fair and transparent elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and said that conducting the general election was a national obligation and together “we would be able to hold free, fair and transparent elections in the country”.

Urging people and government departments to unite for election, he directed the relevant authorities to ensure accessibility of persons with disability voters to the polling stations so that they could easily exercise their right of vote on February 08, 2024.

Election schedule

According to ECP’s election schedule for general elections 2024, nomination papers could be filed with respective returning officers by the candidates on December 20-22, 2023 while names of all nominated candidates would be published on December 23.

Similarly, December 24-30 has been fixed as the last date for filing of appeals against decisions of the Returning Officers regarding rejection/acceptance of nomination papers while the last date for deciding appeals by the Appellate Tribunal was January 03, 2024.

The last date for deciding appeals against decisions of the Returning Officers regarding acceptance or rejection of appeals by the appellate tribunal is January 10, 2024 while a revised list of candidates would be published on January 11.

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

The publication of the revised list of candidates has been fixed as January 12 while election symbols to candidates would be allotted on 13th January and polling would be held on February 08, 2024.

This election program would also apply to the seats reserved for women and non-Muslims in the National Assembly and provincial assemblies of Punjab, Sindh, KP and Balochsitan provinces. The last date for filing of a separate priority list for seats reserved for women and non-Muslims before the Returning Officer is December 22, 2023.

Guidelines for candidates

Meanwhile, the ECP issued guidelines for candidates filing nomination papers for seats of national and provincial assemblies. Fee for obtaining one nomination paper’s form is fixed as Rs10, and one candidate can submit a maximum five nomination papers with different proposers/seconders.

The fee for submission of a nomination paper for a national assembly seat is Rs 30,000 and Rs 20,000 for a provincial assembly seat was non- refundable.

The fee for nomination paper could either be submitted directly to the Returning Officer or through bank draft in RO’s name in any National Bank of Pakistan’s branch and its receipt should be attached with the nomination form.

Read More: ECP announces guidelines for intending election candidates

The nomination papers could be obtained from respective returning officers at office working hours from 8:30a.m. to 4:30p.m. from December 20-22, 2023.

The attested copies of computerised national identity cards (CNICs) of the candidates and their proposers/seconders besides vote certificates issued by the concerned office of district election commissioner and income tax return of last three years and passport should be attached with the nomination papers.

Eligibility criteria

The electoral watchdog also issued criteria for eligibility of contesting candidates of national and provincial assemblies’ seats.

The candidates should be citizens of Pakistan having 25 years of age at the final date of filing of nomination paper.

The candidate should be a registered voter in any part of Pakistan for national assembly and of the province contesting for provincial assembly’s seats.

It is mandatory for candidates of women reserved seats of the national assembly to be a registered voter of that province and fulfill eligibility criteria mentioned in Articles 62-63 of the Constitution.

The proposers and seconders of candidates contesting on general seats should be voters of the relevant constituency while proposers and seconders of national and provincial assemblies’ women and non-Muslim seats to be voters of that province.

The proposers and seconders of candidates for national assembly seats of non-Muslims should be registered voters in any part of the country. The priority list issued by the political parties for reserved seats needs to be attached with the nomination papers of the candidate while a special account regarding election’s expenses is required to be opened by the candidates in any scheduled banks or details of an already opened account with nomination papers besides attaching bank statements.