ISLAMABAD, July 26: Chief Election Commissioner retired Justice Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim accepted on Friday nomination papers of three presidential candidates – PML’s Mamnoon Hussain and Iqbal Zafar Jhagra and retired Justice Wajihuddin Ahmad of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).

PPP’s candidate Mian Raza Rabbani pulled out of the race at the last moment in protest against what he called unilateral revision of the schedule.

In a statement submitted to Justice Ebrahim, who is returning officer for the presidential election, Mr Rabbani regretted that he had neither been consulted nor heard.

He said his party and members of other parties which had supported him jointly decided that he should not participate in an election that was loaded in favour of one particular and favoured candidate. He said he was withdrawing all nomination papers filed by him or on his behalf for the presidential poll.

Mr Rabbani’s papers were ‘rejected as withdrawn’. The papers of other 19 candidates were rejected as none of them were signed by a lawmaker, as proposer or seconder.

Mamnoon Hussain was the first to appear before the CEC.

A candidate, whose papers were later rejected, raised a number of objections to the candidature of Mr Hussain, saying he was over 65 years of age and, therefore, was not in a position to effectively discharge his duty as head of the state. He said that being a PML-N loyalist he could not be a symbol of federation and remain impartial. Mr Hussain also does not sport a beard.

The objections were instantly rejected by the CEC, leaving many to wonder how a person with no locus standi had been provided an opportunity to raise objections.

Objections were also raised to the nomination of Justice Wajihuddin. A candidate claimed that the PTI candidate lacked Islamic knowledge. He said Pakistan had come into being after a lot of sacrifices and the PTI’s slogan of a ‘new Pakistan’ was sufficient to reject papers of its candidates.

Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, a covering candidate for Mamnoon Hussain, is likely to withdraw his papers on Saturday. Therefore, it would be a one-to-one contest between Mr Hussain and Justice Wajihuddin and there is no suspense about the outcome in view of PML-N’s numerical strength.

Talking to reporters after the acceptance of his papers, Mr Hussain said he would resign from the basic membership of the PML-N after his election as head of the state. He said he would try to remain impartial.

He expressed displeasure over PPP’s decision to boycott the election and said it was not in the spirit of democracy.