The second phase of the electoral process has ended with completion of the scrutiny of nomination papers of the candidates for National and Provincial Assemblies’ constituencies.

Most of the candidates have been cleared but strangely enough nomination papers of some of the heavy weights were rejected, some on understandable reasons and others on apparently whimsical grounds, transmitting an impression that the process was not even-handed and it depends on many factors including IQ of the Returning Officer in determining the fate of a candidate.

The nomination papers of many important candidates have been rejected by the returning officers who have completed scrutiny process of the nomination papers filed by the candidates for National Assembly and Provincial Assembly from Balochistan.

The important candidates whose nomination papers were rejected, including Sardar Yar Muhammad Rind Provincial President PTI Balochistan, Ali Madad Jattak President PPP Balochistan, Nawab Mir Aali Bugti, President of Jamhoori Watan Party of his own group, Nawabzada Gazain Marri former home minister, former provincial minister Mir Asim Kurd Alias Gello, former senator Mir Mohabat Khan Marri, Mir Shoaib Nosherwani a former home minister, Muhammad Akram Baloch of BNP, former provincial minister Mir Faiq Ali Jamali, Sardar Khan Rind, Mir Sadiq Ali Umrani of PPP.

Balochistan, the nomination papers of former Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, Sardar Akhtar Jan Mengal President BNP-Mengal, Mehmood Khan Achakzai Chairman PkMAP, Jam Mir Kamal Khan Alyani President Balochistan Awami Party, Syed Saeed Ahmed Hashmi founder of BAP, former Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri F, former speaker of Balochistan Assembly Muhammad Aslam Bhootani, Maulana Abdul Wasey of JUI-F, former opposition leader Abdul Rahim Ziaratwal,

Nawab Jangez Khan Marri, Ms. Raheela Hameed Khan Durrani former Speaker Balochistan Assembly, former caretaker chief ministers Sardar Muhammad Saleh Bhootani, Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo, Sarfaraz Ahmed Bugti, Sardarzada Shahzain Bugti President JWP of his own group, Sana Baloch of BNP-Mengal, General (Retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch and Sardar Aslam Bizenjo has been accepted.

According to Election Commission of Pakistan in Balochistan, 55 nominations were rejected out of 435 filed for the 16 general seats of National Assembly from Balochistan.

For the 51 general seats of Balochistan 1447 nomination papers were filed by the candidates and out that 1181 accepted and 226 were rejected by returning officers and various grounds. For 4 reserved seats of Balochistan in the National Assembly 36 female candidates of different political parties filed their nomination papers and out of that 19 were rejected and 17 accepted.

Nomination papers of 75 female candidates were rejected who had filed for the 11 reserved seats for women in Balochistan while 41 were accepted and total 116 nomination papers were filed for reserved women seats of Balochistan Assembly. For the three reserved minority seats in the Balochistan Assembly, 56 candidates filed their nomination papers and out of it only 21 were accepted and around 35 were rejected.

There might be some candidates who concealed their wealth and properties while others might not have declared in the past what they declared at the time of filing of nomination papers for general election 2018 and the resultant inconsistencies could weigh much on their political future.

However, rejection of nomination papers by Returning Officer of NA-53 Islamabad raises questions about quality, rationale and language of the declaration form hurriedly drafted by the Election Commission of Pakistan and given a stamp of approval by the Supreme Court.

The Clause-N that has axed the candidature of PTI Chairman Imran Khan, former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former Governor KP Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan and Ayesha Gulali is utterly vague and the candidates did not wrong if they failed to fill the column.

This is because the clause apparently requires what the candidate did for the constituency concerned as an elected representative from that constituency.

This clearly means that the information is required only from those who were previously elected as Member of the National or Provincial Assembly from the same constituency. Those contesting from the constituency for the first time are not supposed to have done something or anything for the constituency.

In the first place, the very logic of including this clause is questionable but even if it was included the ROs should have the interpreted it in right perspective. The rejection might be overturned by tribunal if candidates chose to go into appeal but this is sheer wastage of time, energy and resources besides mental agony to candidates.