The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday extended by two days its deadline for filing nomination papers for the Feb. 8, 2024 general elections, stressing the polling date remains unchanged.
According to the schedule issued by the electoral watchdog earlier, the process to file nomination papers for national and provincial assemblies seats commenced at 8:30 a.m. on Dec. 20 and was to conclude at 4:30 p.m. today (Friday, Dec. 22). Subsequently, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl), the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, the Balochistan Awami Party, and the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) urged the electoral body to extend the deadline to allow potential candidates more time to prepare required documentation, but stressed this should not be a pretext to further delay the polls.
In a press release issued this morning, the ECP announced that it was extending the deadline for filing nomination papers until 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 24 (Sunday), adding this was in response to requests from various political parties to facilitate the candidacy process. It said the ECP would also publish the names of nominated candidates on Dec. 24. “Political parties must submit priority lists for seats reserved for women and non-Muslims before the returning officers” by Dec. 24, it added.
The revised schedule for the filing of nomination papers has no impact on the scrutiny process, which is to begin from Dec. 25 and conclude on Dec. 30, as previously notified. The ECP also stressed that “all activities as listed in the election schedule released on Dec. 15 will be held as planned.”
After the JUIF and MQMP had requested an extension to the deadline for filing nomination papers, PMLN Senator Ishaq Dar had also written to ECP seeking a two-day extension in the deadline to submit nomination papers. In his letter, also shared on X (formerly Twitter), Dar had noted the gap between the conclusion of filing nomination papers and commencement of scrutiny, adding three days were allocated for nominations, while there were seven days for scrutiny.
“It is therefore requested that in order to facilitate thousands of candidates desirous to take part in elections, it would be appreciated if only two days’ extension is granted in filing of nomination paper by amending the schedule issued on Dec. 15 without changing the polling day,” he added.