NA-133 Lahore by-election: Nomination papers of PTI candidates rejected

LAHORE: The nomination papers of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) candidates, Jamshed Iqbal Cheema and Musarrat Iqbal Cheema, in NA-133 Lahore have been rejected by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) during a scrutiny process.

The PML-N had raised objections on the nomination papers of the PTI leaders, highlighting that their proposers and seconders were not from the constituency.

The returning officer reviewed the arguments from both sides for an hour today and later decided to reject the nomination papers.

On Friday, the ECP approved the nomination papers of 14 candidates including PML-N's Shaista Pervaiz Malik and PPP's Chaudhry Aslam Gill out of the total 20 candidates who submitted their candidature to the election body for the NA-133 by-election.

During the scrutiny process, the ECP rejected the nomination papers of three candidates while evaluation on three others was postponed for today. PTI's candidate for the seat, Jamshed Iqbal Cheema and his covering candidate and wife Musarrat Iqbal Cheema faced difficulty during the scrutiny process after it emerged that their proposers and seconders do not belong to the constituency.

Later, considering their plea, the ECP postponed the scrutiny process on their papers for October 30. The lower house seat from Lahore was vacated due to the demise of PML-N MNA Pervaiz Malik, who was passed away in a heart attack.