RAWALPINDI, April 3: The nomination and qualifying process for the upcoming general elections have recently grown more complicated, with yet another hurdle for candidates to face.

Sources in the Rawalpindi police department reveal that the Election Commission of Pakistan has asked them to provide the criminal records, if any, of all the candidates.

A senior police inspector, who spoke on condition of anonymity, says that `the ECP asked city district po-lice to provide information on criminal records for all candidates who have filed nomination papers in the elections for the National Assembly and the provincial assembly.

`If any of the candidates were booked in the past,` the inspector continued, `we`ve been asked to give the ECP information on the outcome of our investigations,` including, a colleague added, `any FIRs registered against them.

If a candidate was sentenced, the police are to provide `details on the case and the conviction.

Candidates with a crimi-nal history will be unable to receive a security clearance and will therefore be disqualified from participating in the general elections.

Across Rawalpindi district, 272 candidates have submitted nomination papers for the area`s 7 National Assembly seats. For the 14 seats in the Provincial Assembly, 484 candidates have declared themselves.

A police official told Dawn that in an initial check, no criminal history was found for those candidates seeking the National Assembly seat of NA-55, or the PP-11 seat in the provincial assembly.