PESHAWAR: Over 32,000 candidates are in the run for different seats of the city, tehsil, village and neighbourhood councils in the second phase of the Local Government (LG) elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa slated for March 31.
An official of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said that 873 candidates were aspiring for the slot of mayor and chairman of 65 city and tehsil councils in the second phase of the elections.
As many as 15,336 candidates are contesting for the slot of chairman/general councillors in 1,830 neighbourhood and village councils. Besides, 3,488 candidates are flexing their muscles for the seats for woman councillors, 7,016 for peasant councillors, 6,006 for youth councillors and 120 for minority councillors.
Elections will be being held in 18 districts of the KP in the second phase. Four districts of the erstwhile tribal areas including Kurram, Orakzai, North and South Waziristan will go for LG polls for the first time.
The other districts where polls will be held include Abbottabad, Mansehra, Battagram, Torghar, Upper Kohistan, Lower Kohistan, Kolai Palas in Hazara division and Swat, Malakand, Upper Dir, Lower Dir, Upper Chitral and Lower Chitral and Shangla in Malakand division.
In the first phase, polls were held in half of the province, including Peshawar, on December 19. Polling for the second phase will be held on March 31 while the consolidation of the results is done on April 4.
The last date for withdrawal of papers by the candidates is March 3 while election symbols will be allotted on March 4. Earlier, the second phase of the elections were announced to be held on March 27. The Peshawar High Court (PHC) Abbottabad Bench later directed postponement of the polls after citing the harsh weather in the hilly areas.
It ordered balloting in the remaining districts of the KP after Ramazan. A revised schedule was announced later after the Supreme Court suspended the PHC Abbottabad Circuit Bench order.