Re: 13,000 candidates register for Election 2008
92% of nomination papers accepted.
12,443 candidates’ papers accepted
Dec 6: Out of 13,490 nomination papers submitted by candidates for general and reserved seats for the Jan 8 polls, returning officers across the country have accepted 12,443. **In all, 1,047 nomination papers, including those of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and former Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif, were rejected on different grounds during the scrutiny. Nomination papers of some candidates belonging to the PML (Q) were also rejected.The papers of Naseer Khan, federal health minister in the outgoing government, and Mehdi Hasan Bhatti, who was elected MNA from Narowal in 2002 elections on a PML (Q) ticket, were rejected on account of fake degrees. **Figures released by the Election Commission on Thursday said 3,792 nomination papers for National Assembly’s general seats and 8,651 for general seats in four provincial assemblies had been found to be valid. A total of 61, out of the 64 papers, for two general seats of the National Assembly from the federal capital have been found valid.
In Punjab, 5,954 nomination papers were filed and 1,841 for the NA seats and 2,182 for the provincial assembly seats were found valid.
In Sindh, 3,122 nomination papers were found valid, 940 were filed for the National Assembly and 2,182 for the provincial assembly.
In the NWFP, 1,983 nomination papers were declared valid, 526 for general seats in the National Assembly and 1,457 for general seats in the provincial assembly.
In Balochistan, 1,153 nomination papers for general seats were found valid, 254 for the NA and 899 for the provincial assembly.
In Fata, 170 nomination papers for general seats in the National Assembly were found valid.
The papers of 904 candidates have been found valid for the federal capital and the four provinces for seats reserved for women and non-Muslims. For NA seats reserved for women from Punjab, 86 nomination papers have been found valid and 163 for the Punjab provincial assembly. For NA seats reserved for women from Sindh, 39 papers were found valid and 86 for PA seats reserved for women in the provincial assembly. In Balochistan, 51 nomination papers for reserved seats for women were found valid 16 for NA seats and 35 PA seats. A total of 392 nomination papers were found valid for seats reserved for non-Muslims.