Nasrullah not to contest polls again

Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, the veteran leader of the Pakistan Democratic Party (PDP), has announced that he will not be contesting any election again.

Nasrullah, barred from contesting in the forthcoming polls because of his lack of educational qualification, has said that he had been planning for some time to "make way for my sons and grandsons".

Nasrullah's eldest son, Manzoor, is expected to contest from his father's traditional seat in Muzzafaragarh. This will be the first time in over 50 years that Nasrullah will not be vying for the seat.

The veteran leader has, however, affirmed that he will continue to take an active part in politics and will "guide my party even without contesting the polls".

He has declined to say whether the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) will be kept alive after the polls. There is some talk within the alliance that it should be converted into a united opposition group if pro-Musharraf parties win the election.

Nasrullah has continued to play a role as a key opposition leader, meeting election observer missions to the country and acting as the representative of all groups who are not aligned with the military regime.

Meanwhile, most parties find themselves locked in a battle against time to finalise the procedures to file the nomination papers of their candidates.

It is possible for parties to make changes in the candidates until the last date for the withdrawal of papers.

Though this date has not yet been finalised by the election commission (EC), it is thought that by the beginning of next month, the final selection of candidates will be completed to allow these people time to campaign in their constituencies.

While the early date to start receiving applications set by the EC has taken parties somewhat by surprise, the purpose behind this seems to be aimed at ensuring a rigorous scrutiny of the papers.

This in itself presents something of a problem for parties which fear a large number of rejections if candidates do not fulfil the conditions laid down by the EC.

"We know the Pakistan People's Party is being victimised, and we are ready for any negative action against our candidates," said Qasim Zia, Punjab president of the PPP.

It is expected that Zia, along with other PPP leaders, will contest on a ticket of the party's parliamentarian wing (PPPP), which has been registered with the EC.

While all the major parties have begun submitting applications, the question of how the EC handles these is being closely watched.

It is unclear as yet what parameters are to be set for the acceptance of nominations, and how those who face corruption charges but have not yet been convicted in any case will fare.

This is dependent to a great extent on how clause 63 of the constitution is interpreted by the EC.
The clause seeks that candidates should be honest and faithful.

The matter of how this is determined has provided some leeway for people to be rejected, and political parties are fearful that with the tougher electoral laws in place, the candidates whose applications are turned down may be higher than before.

Apart from this problem, the issue of deciding on applications within parties is also running into some difficulties.

The Pakistan Muslim League, Quaid-e-Azam (PML-QA), has, according to sources, received a very large number of applications from prospective candidates at the last minute.

Pressure from leaders within the party to have their favoured people selected is also high, with many seeing a PML-QA ticket as a route to success in the polls.

The PPP, too, states it has received multiple applications for virtually every seat and is currently processing these applications.

In most cases, parties interview the candidates, examine their record and conduct detailed meetings before finalising the matter.

However, given the time constraints, some of these steps may have to be skipped. In addition, there is also concern within the parties that public interest in the election process has remained low.

Candidates likely to win party tickets have in many cases already been asked to begin campaigning in an effort to build up momentum for the polls.