Nawaz’s papers accepted from Lahore’s NA-130

LAHORE: The Election Commission of Pakistan has accepted the nomination papers of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif from Lahore’s NA-130.

The ECP initiated the scrutiny of nomination papers in various constituencies of Lahore on Tuesday.

The scrutiny of PMLN Chief Organiser Maryam Nawaz from PP-165 was completed. The proposer and endorser were present in the RO’s office during the scrutiny of documents, and the RO declared Maryam Nawaz’s papers complete.

On the first day, the papers of Hamza Shehbaz and other PMLN leaders were checked, while the papers of Hanan Hayat, an independent candidate from NA-125, were rejected on the grounds of being an underage candidate.

The returning officers in the commissioner’s office scrutinised the candidates of NA-118 and NA-121. Hamza Shehbaz’s papers for NA-118 were checked and Mian Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman’s papers were also checked from the same constituency.

Rana Ahsan Sharafat and Manzoor Butt from NA-121 submitted the papers of former speaker of National Assembly PMLN leader Ayaz Sadiq for scrutiny, while the papers of PMLN leader Sheikh Rohail Asghar were also scrutinised.

It should be noted that the process of document verification will continue till December 30. The document verification of certain minority and female candidates also began on December 26, 2023.

PMLN leader Bilal Yasin, while talking to the media, confirmed that the papers of Nawaz Sharif were accepted without any objection. The former prime minister had filed his nomination papers from Lahore and Mansehra constituencies.

PMLN sources said the party’s legal team was also put on standby to deal with any objection to Nawaz’s nomination papers.

Bilal Yasin claimed that Nawaz Sharif will succeed from this constituency in the upcoming elections, and then he will be elected prime minister for the fourth time. He said all the questions asked by returning officers were addressed during the scrutiny process.

Meanwhile, former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif has said the PMLN is fully prepared for the upcoming elections and Nawaz Sharif’s golden era will return soon. He was addressing the 16th meeting of the Parliamentary Board of PMLN.

PMLN Senior Vice President and Chief Organiser Maryam Nawaz Sharif, Vice President Hamza Shahbaz, Election Cell Head Ishaq Dar, Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa party president Engineer Amir Muqam also participated in the meeting. In addition to central and provincial office-bearers, the board meeting included regional coordinators.

The Parliamentary Board of the Muslim League (N) mulled over candidates from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The agenda of the meeting was slightly altered, party sources said, adding that interviews with candidates from three districts of Lahore Division were postponed for unknown reasons. Party sources revealed that the interviews of candidates from three constituencies of Islamabad were also postponed.

They said on Tuesday interviews of candidates from the KP were conducted, while the date for the rest of the candidates would be announced later.

Since December 2, the PMLN Parliamentary Board had deliberated on the names of party candidates from various regions, including Sargodha Division, Rawalpindi District, Hazara, Malakand Division, Balochistan Province, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rawalpindi, Attock, Jhelum, Chakwal, Khanewal, Vehari, Lodhran, Multan, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Sialkot, Narowal, Bahawalpur, Sindh, Karachi, and Faisalabad.

Later, PMLN leader and former defence minister Khawaja Asif, while talking to the media, said political parties made statements against each other, which was the culture of elections and people forget these statements later. He said after the election, political rivals forget bitter statements and become allies.

To a question, he said he didn’t know whether the PMLN will get a two-thirds majority, but the party will get a clear majority in the National Assembly. There should be a government with national consensus.

He said excitement had increased among the people. Political and religious chaos has increased in society at this time, which is causing serious damage to the country. He said the time has come for everyone to sit together and end rifts. To a question, he replied that he has no enmity with anyone.

PMLN leader Talal Chaudhry also talked to the media at Model Town and said the threat to the upcoming general elections was from PTI’s false statements and petitions filed in the courts. “They want to postpone elections,” he claimed, adding the PMLN was not afraid of any election symbol.

He said the election commission was so weak that it could not punish PTI for foreign funding and the party chairman was often facilitated. He said there was a rush for PMLN tickets, and over 15 people were demanding a party ticket from every constituency.

“Nawaz Sharif is listening to everyone and will announce the tickets after completion of process,” he said, claiming there are no electables in Punjab.

Welcoming Bilawal Bhutto for contesting elections from Lahore, Talal Chaudhry said that now he can see Metro and Orange Line trains, which has never happened in Karachi yet.

Meanwhile, PMLN’s central leader Javed Latif told a presser at Model Town that attackers of Capitol Hill in the US were punished, but here the nation was still waiting for the punishment of the main character of May 9 incidents. He said that if nothing happened on May 9, then the Constitution should be abolished so that any group could do whatever it wanted to do.

He said that if someone’s papers were taken away, people should be investigated and brought forward.

Meanwhile, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif met Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith Ameer Professor Sajid Mir and Hafiz Abdul Kareem here on Tuesday. PMLN Chairman Raja Zafarul Haq, Senior Vice President and Chief Organizer Maryam Nawaz, PMLN Election Cell Chairman Senator Ishaq Dar, PMLN Punjab President Rana Sanaullah and Information Secretary Maryam Aurangzeb were present in the meeting. Consultations were held on the current political situation and preparations for elections.