Zardari, Achakzai set to contest presidential election on March 9

ISLAMABAD: The election for the office of President of Pakistan will be held on Saturday, March 9, after the nomination papers of the candidates were expected.

The scrutiny of nomination papers was held on Monday (today) and the final list of candidates will be published. The polling will be held on Saturday from 10 AM to 4 PM at the Parliament House in Islamabad and in all four provincial assemblies.

Nomination papers of joint candidate of PML-N and PPP Asif Ali Zardari and candidate of Sunni Ittehad Council Mahmood Khan Achakzai have been filed for the election of president.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has approved the nomination papers of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Asif Ali Zardari and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) nominee Mahmood Khan Achakzai for the presidential election.

PPP’s Farooq H Naek said no objection was raised on the nomination papers of Zardari. PTI’s Amir Dogar also announced that the electoral body has approved the nomination papers of the Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) chief Achakzai as candidate of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).

Meanwhile, the ECP has barred the media from the coverage of the scrutiny process of nomination papers filed for the presidential elections.

According to the Second Schedule, the chief election commissioner will serve as the returning officer for the election whereas presiding officers appointed by the ECP will preside over the presidential election that will see members of the National Assembly, Senate and all four provincial assemblies voting to elect the head of the state.

The Senate and the NA vote on the basis of one member, one vote but the four provincial assemblies follow a different formula.

Due to being the smallest legislature, only the Balochistan Assembly gets a one-member, one-vote option as it essentially sets the standard for how the votes are divided in the other three provincial assemblies — whose votes are counted by dividing them by the total strength of the Balochistan Assembly (which has 65 numbers).

The voting for the presidential polls will be conducted via secret ballot meaning that each member will vote by marking the ballot papers which will have the names of all the candidates in alphabetical order. The vote will then be deposited in a ballot box placed in front of the presiding officer.

Once the voting has concluded, the presiding officer will, in the presence of such of the candidates or their authorized representatives, open and empty the ballot boxes and examine the ballot papers.