Pakistan poll body extends deadline for filing nomination papers to Sunday

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) asserted that the extension would not affect the poll date. The ECP will accept nomination papers till Sunday, but a final list of candidates who have qualified for participation will be released on Jan.11 after a scrutiny and appeals process.
With little than over a month left for polls, the electoral watchdog has entered election mode. Last week, the ECP issued the poll schedule, putting an end to uncertainty surrounding the exercise.

As per the original schedule, the process to file nomination papers for national and provincial assemblies’ seats commenced on Dec.20. The deadline for the filing of papers was set to expire at 4:30pm today (Friday).

A car passes by an election billboard along a road in Peshawar on Friday, ahead of Pakistan’s general elections. AFP


However, in a press release this morning, the ECP announced that nomination papers can now be filed till Dec.24 (Sunday). It said the decision was taken in response to requests from political parties and to facilitate the candidacy process.

“Political parties must submit priority lists for specific seats to returning officers within the stipulated time,” it said.

Returning officers will examine the nomination papers from Dec 25 to Dec 30, as specified in the schedule. The statement underscored that “all activities as listed in the election schedule released on Dec.15 will be held as planned.”
The development comes a day after Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ishaq Dar wrote a letter to the ECP seeking a two-day extension in the deadline to submit nomination papers.

In a letter posted on X (formerly Twitter), Dar – who is the chairman of the party’s election cell – had noted that according to the schedule issued by the ECP, candidates were required to file nomination papers from Dec 20 to Dec 22 while dates for scrutiny were fixed from Dec.24 to Dec.30.