ISLAMABAD, June 19 (INP): The nomination papers of Pakistan Peoples Party Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz President Shehbaz Sharif for different constituencies were accepted as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) concluded the scrutiny process of nomination papers on Tuesday. Bilawal's nominations papers for NA-246 (Karachi) have been accepted along with nomination papers of Shehbaz and his son, Hamza Shehbaz, for NA-132 (Lahore). Moreover, PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz's candidacy for PP-173 has been approved. On Monday, RO Asif Bashir had cleared the way for Maryam to contest for Lahore's NA-125 constituency after dismissing all objections raised during scrutiny of her nomination papers. Alongside, the nominations papers of Pak Sarzameen Party leader Arshad Vohra for NA-254 (Karachi) and NA-255 (Karachi) have also been approved, along with nomination papers of Jamiat Ulema-e Islam (F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman's for NA-38 (Dera Ismail Khan). [timed-content-server show="06/20/2018 01:00 Asia/Karachi"]Senior politician Javed Hashmi's candidature for NA-155 (Multan) has been approved, while former president Pervez Musharraf's nomination papers for NA-1 (Chitral) have been dismissed. However, Muttahida Qaumi Movement stalwart Farooq Sattar suffered a setback after his nomination papers for NA-245 (Karachi) were rejected. Returning Officer (RO) Ahsan Khan said that Sattar’s candidature for NA-245 had been rejected because he is an absconder in two cases and did not mention this in his nomination papers. According to a police report, Farooq Sattar failed to appear before the court in two cases registered under the Sindh Sound System (Regulation) Act, 2015 at Soldier Bazaar police station. During the hearing on objections, Sattar's counsel had remarked that his client was unaware of the two cases. Sattar has submitted nomination papers from three constituencies in Karachi NA-241, 245 and 247 to contest the general election scheduled to be held on July 25. Moreover, Imran Khan’s legal counsel Babar Awan appeared before a returning officer and presented his arguments over the objections to PTI chief’s candidacy for NA-53 (Islamabad). Awan remarked that they rejected the objections against Imran seven times in the written reply submitted to the ECP, adding that all the objections are based on falsehood. Objections to Imran’s candidacy ‘baseless’, reply submitted to ECP He further remarked that the photo state copies used to ‘incriminate’ Imran fall under the ambit cybercrime. Following this, the counsel of Abdul Wahab Baloch, who had filed objections against Imran’s candidacy, also presented his arguments. The RO then reserved the verdict on objections against Imran. On Monday, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairperson Imran Khan’s legal counsel submitted reply over objections to his candidacy for the upcoming general election for NA-53 constituency of Islamabad. The reply, which was submitted by the assistant lawyer of Babar Awan, stated that the objections to Imran’s candidacy are baseless and based on fraud. The objections have been submitted over photo stated documents and have yet to be verified, states the written reply, adding that the objections raised against Imran fall under the ambit of forgery. A total of 21,482 nomination papers have been filed across the country for national and provincial assemblies, according to the electoral body. At least 6,063 candidates will contest for the 342 seats of the National Assembly, while 15,419 hopefuls have filed nomination papers for the seats of the provincial assemblies. The election schedule states that appeals against rejection or acceptance of nomination papers can be filed by June 22. The decision on the appeals will be made by June 27, after which the final list of the candidates will be shared on June 28. Alongside, the ECP Spokesperson Altaf Khan remarked that time for scrutiny of nomination papers will not be extended, adding that no such proposal is under consideration in this regard. INP/LK[/timed-content-server]