The submission of the nomination papers for the February 8 general elections commenced on Wednesday. It is to be noted that, the election authorities on first day has recorded dim response from the contesting parties and individuals in the city’s seven districts on the first day of the three-day process.
With one day of the process already passed with not much enthusiasm among the contestants, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Fazal (JUI-F) appealed to the chief election commissioner to extend the deadline for filing nomination papers, which is scheduled to end on December 22, 2023.
The leaders of the parties contesting during the election, said that, “Hundreds of forms had been issued for 22 National Assembly and 37 Sindh Assembly seats, but only a few were returned with all formalities to get filed as nomination papers of the candidates. For instance take a look at the south district,” said a source privy to the data gathered on the first day of the process.”
It is to be noted that, Mustafa Kamal emerged as the only one who had completed the process to become candidate from NA-242 and filed the nomination paper for the constituency.
As per the information, former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had collected the nomination form.
It is to be hereby mentioned that, seeing the ‘complications’ in the process and a very short time given by the ECP, the MQM-P made a request to the chief election commissioner for extending the deadline for filing the nomination papers.
In the letter to the ECP, Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqi of the MQM-P, said that, “Filing of nomination is a tedious job. There is a long list of formalities requiring time and a lot of paperwork. The duration of three days provided, therefore, does not seem enough, and it may discourage adequate participation.”
