Farooq Sattar’s nomination papers for NA-245 rejected

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday rejected nomination papers of Muttahida Qaumi Movement–Pakistan (MQM-P) leader Farooq Sattar from the NA-245 constituency.

Returning Officer (RO) Ahsan Khan said Sattar’s candidature for NA-245 had been rejected because he is an absconder in two cases and did not mention this in his nomination papers. However, the MQM-P stalwart's counsel remarked that his client was unaware of the two cases.

The MQM-P leader has filed an appeal against his papers being rejected in the Sindh High Court. Sattar has submitted nomination papers from three constituencies in Karachi — NA-241, 245 and 247 — to contest the general election scheduled to be held on July 25.

The ECP will conclude the scrutiny of nomination papers filed by candidates for the general election today. A total of 21,482 nomination papers have been filed across the country for national and provincial assemblies, according to the electoral body.

At least 6,063 candidates will contest for the 342 seats of the National Assembly, while 15,419 hopefuls have filed nomination papers for the seats of the provincial assemblies. The election schedule states that appeals against rejection or acceptance of nomination papers can be filed by June 22. The decision on the appeals will be made by June 27, after which the final list of the candidates will be shared on June 28.