LARKANA, Pakistan -- A nomination to contest October's election submitted by Pakistan's former premier Benazir Bhutto has been rejected, an election official said Friday.

"She has been convicted by the anti-graft court (of absconding), therefore she is not qualified to contest the elections," election commission official Akhlaq Hussain Ladak told a courtroom at Ratto Dero near Larkana, about 1,200 kilometers (720 miles) southwest of Islamabad.

Bhutto has been convicted twice this year of absconding after failing to return from exile to appear in graft trials in May and July.

Hundreds of Bhutto supporters who had gathered outside the court reacted angrily to the decision, chanting slogans against President Pervez Musharraf, witnesses said.

"We Reject Musharraf, Go Musharraf, Go. We Welcome Benazir, Benazir Is Our Prime Minister," they chanted in a protest that has been non-violent.

Bhutto -- who has been living in self-exile in London and Dubai since 1998 -- can appeal the decision at an election appellate tribunal, through her lawyer Ayaz Soomro who slammed Friday's outcome as hypocritical.

"This is a case of double standards. On one hand the nomination paper of convict Nawaz Sharif's has been accepted, but on the other hand Benazir Bhutto's nomination has been rejected," Soomro told the judge.

Officials had said Sharif -- who was banished in 2000 to Saudi Arabia for 10 years under a confidential deal with Pakistan's military government -- could not run for election under a law which bars candidates with criminal convictions from contesting polls.

Sharif was convicted of tax evasion and plane hijacking several months after military leader General Musharraf overthrew and jailed him in a bloodless coup in October 1999.

Soomro said the returning officer had made the decision about Bhutto's nomination under pressure, AFP reported.

He said Musharraf had repeatedly stated that Bhutto would not be allowed to contest the election and would be arrested if she attempted to enter Pakistan for failing to appear at two corruption trials earlier this year.

"We will definitely challenge this decision in the election tribunal. Benazir Bhutto is innocent, her conviction was not in good faith and we will bring her ... to sweep the election," he said.

Bhutto has also filed her candidature for a second seat in Larkana, scrutinity of which will be held on Sunday.