Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has issued party ticket to a nephew of Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed to contest in the by-elections from NA-60 constituency in Rawalpindi.
Earlier, Sheikh Rasheed Shafiq had submitted his nomination papers for the constituency where elections were not held due to the imprisonment of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Hanif Abbasi.
The AML chief was supposed to contest from the constituency in the general elections, but his rival was sentenced to life imprisonment in the ephedrine quota case and was disqualified from contesting the election. Sheikh Rasheed instead won the NA-62 Rawalpindi seat and is now serving as the federal minister for railways. Sajjad Khan of the PML-N has submitted his papers for the constituency.
The candidates submitted their nomination forms till August 30 and a list of all the successful candidates was posted the next day. The scrutiny of nomination papers continued till September 4, while appeals against returning officer’s decisions were heard till September 8.
Candidates, however, have time till September 15 to withdraw papers after which a final list will be published and election symbols will be held on September 16. The by-polls will be held on October 14.
A total of 35 candidates are contesting in NA-60 Rawalpindi-IV, and NA-63 Rawalpindi-VII, two constituencies of Rawalpindi district. PTI’s Ghulam Sarwar Khan won the NA-63 seat with 100,986 against independent candidate Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan who secured 65,767 votes. However, Sarwar vacated the seat to retain NA-59 seat.
Published in Daily Times, September 14th 2018.
