ISLAMABAD: The process for general elections has entered the scrutiny phase. Returning Officers (ROs) have initiated scrutiny of nomination papers for the National Assembly (NA) & provincial assemblies (PA) – filed during December 22-24.
The data released by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has unveiled that the highest number of candidates submitted their nomination papers for the general elections 2024. Collectively, 28,626 candidates submitted their nomination papers for national and provincial assemblies.
For 266 NA general seats, 7,913 candidates filed nomination papers. In the last general elections (held in 2018), a total of 21,482 nomination papers were submitted.
For specific seats, the data showed:
- 459 women filed nomination papers for the 60 reserved seats in NA for women.
- 140 males and 10 females applied for the ten minority seats.
- 358 candidates emerged for three general and specific seats of NA.
Meanwhile, 18,546 nominees were recorded for the 593 general seats in provincial assemblies. The data showed:
- 9,029 candidates submitted nomination papers for the Punjab Assembly.
- 4,265 candidates filed papers for the Sindh Assembly.
- 1,788 candidates submitted their nomination papers for the Balochistan Assembly.
- 3,464 nominations were in the fray for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial assembly.
ECP has collected around Rs655.547 million as fees for nomination papers. The nomination paper fee for NA seat was Rs30,000 and Rs20,000 for provincial assembly seats. Rs249.39 million came in fees from the National Assembly candidates and Rs231.39 million from the candidates for general seats. ECP collected Rs13.77 million from the candidates for reserved seats for women. Similarly, Rs4.5 million came from minority seats.
On the other hand, more than Rs406 million was received as fees for nomination in the provincial assembly seats.
As per the guidelines by ECP, the scrutiny of nomination papers will continue till December 30 2023. The candidates would have a deadline of January 3 2024, to challenge decisions of ROs. All decisions will be finalised by January 10 2024.