PML-N chief Nawaz to run in Feb 8 polls from Mansehra's NA-15

MANSEHRA: With the country's political temperature on the rise as February 8 polls draw near, a top Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader has announced that the party supremo Nawaz Sharif will contest the upcoming elections from Mansehra's NA-15 constituency.

Speaking to the media, party leader and Nawaz's son-in-law, Captain (retd) Safdar said Wednesday that the three-time former prime minister would file his nomination papers from "NA-15 Mansehra-cum-TorGhar" by December 21 (Thursday).

As per the documents seen by Geo News, Nawaz's name is included in the list of nomination forms issued to the candidates of the said constituency.

The development comes as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has begun receiving the nomination papers from potential candidates who are set to contest polls slated for February 8, 2024.

The PML-N supremo's decision to file nomination papers from NA-15 comes as the constituency is considered a stronghold of the party that won the seat in the 2013 and 2018 elections.

Nawaz, who returned to Pakistan in October after a four-year self-imposed exile, has been leading the party's election campaign with his eyes set on a fourth term as the country's chief executive.

Since his return, the three-time prime minister has got his sentences in Avenfield and Al Azizia references quashed by the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

However, following his disqualification — by the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers Case — Nawaz needs the lifelong ban on holding any public office to be removed if he is to qualify to contest the upcoming polls.

Earlier in the day, PML-N's staunch rival Pakistan Tehreek-s-Insaf (PTI) announced that its incarcerated founder Imran Khan — disqualified by ECP in the Toshakhana case after being found guilty of corrupt practices — will contest the general elections from at least three constituencies.

Speaking to media outside the Adiala jail in Rawalpindi, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar said that Khan will contest polls from the Lahore, Islamabad, and Mianwali constituencies.

Announcements from both parties come as the ECP, acting on the apex court's directions, announced the election schedule on December 15.

The development categorically nullified the rumours regarding the polls being delayed after the top court suspended the Lahore High Court's ruling against the electoral body's notification regarding the appointment of returning officers (ROs) and district returning officers (DROs).