Women candidates submit their nomination papers at the deputy commissioner office in Quetta on Friday. AFP

Pakistan extended a Friday deadline for candidates to file nomination papers for a national election by two days, the election commission said, allowing extra time for former prime ministers Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif to enter the race.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) asserted that the extension would not affect the poll date. The ECP will accept nomination papers till Sunday, but a final list of candidates who have qualified for participation will be released on Jan.11 after a scrutiny and appeals process.

With little than over a month left for polls, the electoral watchdog has entered election mode. Last week, the ECP issued the poll schedule, putting an end to uncertainty surrounding the exercise.

As per the original schedule, the process to file nomination papers for national and provincial assemblies’ seats commenced on Dec.20. The deadline for the filing of papers was set to expire at 4:30pm today (Friday).

A car passes by an election billboard along a road in Peshawar on Friday, ahead of Pakistan's general elections. AFP

However, in a press release this morning, the ECP announced that nomination papers can now be filed till Dec.24 (Sunday). It said the decision was taken in response to requests from political parties and to facilitate the candidacy process.

"Political parties must submit priority lists for specific seats to returning officers within the stipulated time,” it said.

Returning officers will examine the nomination papers from Dec 25 to Dec 30, as specified in the schedule. The statement underscored that "all activities as listed in the election schedule released on Dec.15 will be held as planned.”

The development comes a day after Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ishaq Dar wrote a letter to the ECP seeking a two-day extension in the deadline to submit nomination papers.

In a letter posted on X (formerly Twitter), Dar - who is the chairman of the party’s election cell - had noted that according to the schedule issued by the ECP, candidates were required to file nomination papers from Dec 20 to Dec 22 while dates for scrutiny were fixed from Dec.24 to Dec.30.

Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif have said they would submit their nominations despite a ban on their participation due to court convictions. Both are awaiting relief from higher courts that would allow them to participate.

Imran Khan, 71, remains in jail facing a number of charges ranging from corruption to leaking state secrets.

His chances of contesting the polls were dealt a blow with a court rejecting a plea to suspend a conviction against him that disqualified him from contesting, but his lawyers have challenged the decision in the Supreme Court.

In a statement delivered through his lawyer early on Friday, Imran Khan said "coercive and brutal attempts" were being made to oust candidates of his party, Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI), by arresting and harassing them, and snatching their nomination papers ahead of the deadline.

PTI, which won the last national election in 2018 that brought Imran Khan to power for the first time, also said the houses of some of its candidates were raided on Thursday night.

Caretaker Information Minister Murtaza Solangi, the spokesman for the current interim government, tasked with overseeing the polls, did not respond to requests for comment on the allegations.

Imran Khan warned that the lack of free, fair and transparent elections would lead to political instability, which would, in turn, hit the already struggling $350 billion economy.

He said his party's support for an International Monetary Fund programme was contingent on free and fair elections.