MIRPUR: Returning officers of all the 41 electoral constituencies of the 49-seat AJK Legislative Assembly on Saturday made public the list of the eligible candidates after scrutiny of the nomination papers.
In Mirpur district, a total of 71 candidates belonging to various political parties and independents in all four electoral constituencies of the district filed their nomination papers with the returning officers concerned to jump into the scheduled July 21 elections of AJL assembly.
All 18 candidates who had filed their nomination papers in constituency LA-1 (Dadayal-Mirpur) with the Returning officer Additional Session Judge Raja Shamraiz Akher were declared eligible to contest the election.
Similarly in electoral constituency LA-2 (Chaksawari- Mirpur), a total of 18 out of 25 candidates were declared eligible by Returning Officer Civil Judge Mirpur Malik Muhammad Ikraam. Likewise, from LA-3 Mirpur city constituency, a total of 11 out of 13 candidates were declared eligible by the returning officer. Among those 13 candidates who filed their nomination papers from electoral constituency LA-3 Mirpur city, the nomination papers of two candidates identified as Aftab Ahmed and Khalid Farooq were rejected citing various reasons.
Similarly all 15 candidates from LA-4 (Khari sharif Mirpur) who had filed their nomination papers were declared eligible to contest the election after the nomination papers of all of them were found correct. Appeals against acceptance or rejection of papers can be lodged on June 22 and their hearing will be held on June 23rd and 24th. Decisions on these appeals would be announced on June 25th and 26th. The candidates can withdraw their nomination papers on June 27th and final list of candidates will be displayed on June 28th while the election symbols will be allotted on June 29th.
According to the elections schedule announced by the AJK Chief Election Commissioner Justice Ghulam Mustafa Mughal, there are 2,237,058 voters including 1,211,842 men and 1,025,216 women in AJK’s ten districts.