Electoral scrutiny: SNGPL declares Khattak, Bilour defaulters among other notables

PESHAWAR: In the process of electoral scrutiny to exclude ineligible candidates for the July 25 polls, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) has found former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Pervez Khattak and Awami National Party leader Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour as its defaulters among many others.

SNGPL has compiled a list of all defaulters and sent it to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) today. The sizable list of defaulters revealed that those candidates who owe hundreds of millions of rupees to the gas company are mostly CNG station owners.

Amjad Khan Afridi, former MPA of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, who was later expelled from the party, is the biggest defaulter on the list who owes the SNGPL Rs216,295,485.

Erstwhile minister for railways Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour is the defaulter of Rs144,670,715, whereas PTI leader Pervez Khattak has the outstanding amount of Rs106,575,071 in one case and Rs82,422,320 in another.

Pakistan Peoples Party’s Hamid Saeed Kazmi, the former minister for religious affairs, is also among the several notables on the list of SNGPL defaulters who owes Rs31,500 to the company.

The scrutiny of nomination papers has brought several political big shots into hot water who were aspiring to be election candidates for 2018 general elections.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has pronounced more than 100 elections candidates as its defaulter whereas, 1514 candidates are declared nonpayers by Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) during the scrutiny process of nomination papers which was initiated on June 12.