By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Sunday published the final list of candidates for the parliamentary and provincial elections scheduled for February 8, setting the stage for a fierce political battle among the country’s major parties and personalities.
The list, which was delayed by legal challenges to the eligibility of some candidates, showed that 17,816 contenders had filed nomination papers for 849 seats in the National Assembly and the four provincial assemblies. Of these, 11,785 are running as independents, while 6,031 belong to various political parties.
The elections are expected to be a close and bitter fight among the three main parties: the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who recently became eligible to run after being disqualified by the Supreme Court in 2017 on corruption charges; the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), led by jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is barred from contesting elections for five years; and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), led by former President Asif Ali Zardari and his son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the heir of the Bhutto political dynasty.
However, the rejection of nomination papers filed by Khan and almost all the top leaders of his party cast doubt on the legitimacy of the polls, where analysts said the powerful military had been behind the rise and fall of governments.
Sharif, a three-time former prime minister, returned from four years in exile in October and has since had his convictions quashed. He is considered the favorite of the powerful military establishment to lead the country once again.
The PML-N supremo is contesting from two National Assembly constituencies: NA-130 in Lahore, the country’s political capital, and NA-15 in Mansehra, a district in the northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
In Lahore, he will face Dr. Yasmin Rashid, a former provincial health minister and a prominent leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI. Dr. Rashid narrowly lost to Sharif’s wife, Kulsoom Nawaz, in a by-election in 2017, after Sharif was disqualified.
In Mansehra, Sharif’s opponents include Gustasif Khan of the PTI and Mufti Kifayatullah of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), a pro-Taliban religious party that has been a vocal critic of the previous PTI government.
Sharif’s younger brother, Shehbaz Sharif, who is the president of the PML-N and a former prime minister is running from two constituencies: NA-123 in Lahore and NA-132 in Kasur, a district in the eastern province of Punjab.
In Lahore, he will face Afzaal Azeem of the PTI and Liaqat Baloch of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI). In Kasur, his rival candidates are Mohammad Ali Dogar of the PTI and Shaheen Safdar of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)
Sharif’s daughter, Maryam Nawaz, who is the vice president of the PML-N, will contest the election from NA-119 in Lahore, where she will be facing Mian Abaad Farooque of the PTI and Iftikhar Shahid of the PPP.
Similarly, younger Sharif’s son, Hamza Shehbaz, a former chief minister of Punjab, is vying for NA-118 in Lahore, where he will be up against Aliya Hamza, a vocal PTI leader, Mohammad Afzal Khan of the JUI-F, and Shahid Abbas of the PPP.
Zardari will contest elections from NA-207 in Shaheed Benazirabad, a district in the southern province of Sindh that is named after his wife. He will face Sardar Sher Mohammad Rind Baloch of the PTI.
The PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari is contesting the elections from three National Assembly constituencies: two from his home province of Sindh and one from NA-127 in Lahore, where he will be facing Ataullah Tarar of the PML-N and Chaudhry Shabbir Gujjar of the PTI.
In NA-194 in Larkana, the ancestral home of the Bhutto family, he will be facing Maulana Rashid Mahmood Soomro of the JUI-F and PTI Senator Saifullah Abro, whereas Habibullah of the PTI will be challenging him in NA-196 in Qambar Shahdadkot, another district in Sindh.
Former prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, who was ousted by the Supreme Court in 2012 over a contempt of court case, is also making a comeback to the electoral arena. He will vie for NA-148 in Multan, a city in southern Punjab, where he will face PTI’s Barrister Taimur Malik and PML-N’s Ahmad Hussain.
In NA-151 in Multan, his son Ali Moosa Gilani will contest polls against Mehr Bano Qureshi, the daughter of PTI’s jailed leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi. In NA-149 in Multan, Jehangir Tareen of the newly formed Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP) and Amir Dogar of the PTI will come face to face.
In NA-122 in Lahore, Khawaja Saad Rafiq, a former minister in PML-N government, is expected to have a tough contest with PTI’s Sardar Latif Khosa, a former governor of Punjab. In NA-128 in Lahore, PTI-backed Salman Akram Raja, a renowned constitutional expert, will face newly formed IPP’s Mohammad Aun Saqlain.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman is vying for two National Assembly seats — NA-44 in Dera Ismail Khan, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and NA-265 in Pishin-cum-Ziarat, a district in the southwestern province of Balochistan.
In Dera Ismail Khan, he will be facing PTI’s Ali Amin Gandapur, a former minister, and PPP’s Faisal Karim Kundi, a former deputy speaker of the National Assembly. In Pishin, his rivals include Syed Zahoor Agha of the PTI.
In NA-241 in Karachi, the country’s largest and most diverse city, Dr. Farooq Sattar of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), a party that represents the Urdu-speaking community, will be facing PTI’s Khurram Sher Zaman. In NA-242 in Karachi, MQM leader Mustafa Kamal, a former major, will face Qadir Khan Mandokhel of the PPP and PTI’s Dawa Khan.
In NA-54 in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, two former ministers and traditional rivals Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan (independent) and Ghulam Sarwar of the IPP will come face to face again. Azar Masood of PTI is also in the race.
In NA-56 in Rawalpindi, Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmad, a firebrand politician, and PML-N’s Hanif Abbasi, a former minister, and a vocal critic of Ahmad, are vying for the National Assembly seat. PTI’s Shahryar Riaz is also a candidate from the constituency.
PTI leader Gohar Ali Khan is contesting from NA-10 in Buner, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, against PTI-P’s Sher Akbar Khan. Former minister Omar Ayub Khan is contesting from NA-18 in Haripur, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, against Babar Nawaz of the PML-N. Former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser of the PTI is running the race for NA-19 in Swabi, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Aimal Wali Khan, the provincial president of the Awami National Party (ANP), a secular and nationalist party that represents the Pashtun community, and the grandson of the late Wali Khan, is contesting from NA-20 in Charsadda, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He will face PTI’s Fazal Muhammad Khan and PML-N’s Arbab Alamgir Khan.
In NA-33, another National Assembly constituency in the neighboring district of Nowshera, Pervez Khattak, the chief of the PTI-P, a breakaway faction of the PTI, and a former chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, is vying for the seat, besides two provincial assembly seats in the same district, where the PTI has fielded Syed Shahid Ali Shah as its candidate.
Asad Qaiser, the former speaker of the National Assembly and a senior leader of the PTI, is running from NA-19, Swabi, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, against independent candidates.
Faisal Saleh Hayat, a former minister, has switched sides and is contesting from NA-35, Jhang, a district in Punjab, as the PML-N candidate.
Copyright © 2021 Independent Pakistan | All rights reserved
