Election candidate declared ineligible over 'death' in NADRA records

SARGODHA: A Sargodha resident hoping to contest local government elections has been declared ineligible to do so because of his apparent 'death' in official records.

Mohammad Saleem, 50, belongs to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and was hoping to compete in the local bodies' polls for the chairman seat in Sargodha’s Union Council 34-Kot Momin constituency.

But Saleem faced a rather bizarre existential battle after submitting his nomination papers when the Returning Officer declared that he could not contest the polls because he was mistakenly registered as deceased in the official records of National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA).

With the NADRA records in front of him showing Mohammad Saleem as deceased, the Returning Officer asked the candidate to provide proof that he was still alive or faced being barred from contesting the polls.

Saleem says he has visited the RO's office several times and pleaded to him to believe that he is still alive, but to no avail.

Faced with the bizarre circumstances, Saleem had to get a certificate proving he is life from the same Union Council that he hopes to be elected a chairman of. The electoral candidate now has to submit the certificate to NADRA to have the error in the records rectified and prove his existence.