Daily Times

With political parties ramping up their electioneering efforts Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Captain (retd) Safdar has claimed that party supremo Nawaz Sharif will be contesting upcoming polls from Mansehra’s NA 15.

Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Safdar – the husband of PML-N Chief Organiser Maryam Nawaz – said that the former prime minister would submit his nomination papers for the National Assembly seat “NA 15 Mansehra-cum-TorGhar” by December 21 (Thursday).

The development comes as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has begun receiving the nomination papers from potential candidates who are set to contest polls slated for February 8, 2024.

According to reports, Nawaz’s name is included in the list of nomination forms issued to the candidates of the said constituency.

The PML-N supremo’s decision to file nomination papers from NA15 comes as the constituency is considered a stronghold of the party that won the seat in the 2013 and 2018 elections. Nawaz, who returned to Pakistan in October after a four-year self-imposed exile, has been leading the party’s election campaign with his eyes set on a fourth term as the country’s chief executive. Since his return, the three-time prime minister has got his sentences in Avenfield and Al Azizia references quashed by the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

However, following his disqualification – by the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers Case – Nawaz needs the lifelong ban on holding any public office to be removed if he is to qualify to contest the upcoming polls. Earlier in the day, PML-N’s staunch rival Pakistan Tehreek-s-Insaf (PTI) announced that its incarcerated founder Imran Khan – disqualified by ECP in the Toshakhana case after being found guilty of corrupt practices – will contest the general elections from at least three constituencies.

Speaking to media outside the Adiala jail in Rawalpindi, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar said that Khan will contest polls from the Lahore, Islamabad and Mianwali constituencies.

Announcements from both parties come as the ECP, acting on the apex court’s directions, announced the election schedule on December 15.

The development categorically nullified the rumours regarding the polls being delayed after the top court suspended the Lahore High Court’s ruling against the electoral body’s notification regarding the appointment of returning officers (ROs) and district returning officers (DROs).