QUETTA: Election Commissioner Balochistan Niaz Ahmed Baloch said today that till date, 146 nomination papers had been submitted for the 16 National Assembly seats.
He told that 20 for the four nominations were for the reserved seats for women in the National Assembly, 48 for 11 provincial assembly reserved seats for women and 35 nomination forms had been submitted for the three seats earmarked for minorities in the provincial assembly.
Election Commissioner Balochistan Niaz Ahmed Baloch said that all political parties had been directed to submit priority lists for their candidates contesting on reserve seats to the Election Commissioner Balochistan/Returning Officers office till 4 pm.
He said that 651 papers had been collected for 51 constituencies of the provincial assembly, while 162 nomination forms had been issued for the reserved seats for women and minority at both provincial and National Assembly.
Relevant pieces published earlier:
i) The process of filing of nomination papers with the Returning Officers (ROs) which started on June 4, concluded today. According to ECP, the last date for scrutiny of nomination papers by the Returning Officers will be June 19. The last date for filing of appeals against decisions of the ROs rejecting or accepting the nomination papers will be June 22, while the last date for deciding of appeals by the Appellate Tribunals will be June 27. The date of publication of the revised list of candidates will be June 28, and the last date for withdrawal of candidature and publication of the revised list of candidates will be June 29. The date for allotment of election symbol to contesting candidates will be June 30. It said that the schedule will also apply to seats reserved for women and non-Muslims in the National Assembly and Provincial Assemblies of the Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan. (Published on 11th June 2018)
ii) Spokesman to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Nadeem Qasim Monday said that ECP was fully prepared to hold general election in the country as all-out measures have been taken in that regard. Talking to a private news channel, he said the ECP had completed its work simultaneously on delimitations after census and preparations for conducting the elections. He said training of elections staff which includes Returning officers and Presiding officers was being completed as part of elections preparations. To a question regarding expenditures by contesting candidates, Nadeem Qasim told that a new election act has been passed under which, statement of expenditures would be scrutinized thoroughly.
A separate bank account would be required and all the transactions for elections expenses would be made through that account by the candidate, he added. He further said that action would be initiated by the ECP in case of the candidate found guilty of acceding fixed limit. To another query, the spokesman said that a monitoring wing would be set-up by the ECP and monitoring officers would be deputed at every constituency who would monitor election activities and in case of any violation of the code of conduct, action would be taken. Nadeem Qasim said that ECP has to work according to the constitution and the new election act was passed after thorough work by electoral reforms committee of the Parliament. (29th May 2018)
