More candidates file papers for NA, PA seats in KP; Bilour to vie for NA-32

PESHAWAR: A number of candidates, including seasoned politicians, on Thursday filed nomination papers for the national and provincial assembly seats for the general elections from different districts.

Polls are being held across the country on February 8 for which candidates started submitting nomination papers on Wednesday.

Veteran politician and Awami National Party leader Ghulam Ahmad Bilour and Samar Haroon Bilour filed their papers for NA-32 and PK-83, respectively.

A number of candidates from different political parties, including PMLN leader Nawaz Sharif, will file papers today (Friday).

Apart from the general seats, candidates also submitted papers for the seats reserved for women and minorities. According to an official of the Election Commission of Pakistan, 18 women submitted nomination papers for reserved seats of NA and 59 for the same slots of KP assembly.

Besides, 15 candidates have filed papers for the seats reserved for minorities from KP. After filing nomination papers till December 22, the preliminary list of candidates would be issued on December 23 while scrutiny of nomination papers would be conducted from December 24 till December 30. Candidates will be allotted election symbols on January 13.

Polls would be held in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for 55 National Assembly and 145 KP assembly seats. According to the officials of the ECP there are 45 general seats and 10 seats reserved for women in the National Assembly for KP. Besides, there are 115 general seats, 26 seats reserved for women and four seats reserved for minorities in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.

As many as 128.585 million people will cast their votes across the country during the general elections. Out of these 69.263 million,53.87 per cent are male, and 59.322 million,46.13 per cent,) are female voters. The number of total votes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is 21.928 million.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will finally get its members in the KP Assembly after over a year once the polls are held in February.

The KP assembly was dissolved in mid-January and since then the caretaker setup is looking after the affairs of the government, making it one of the longest terms for any caretaker set up in the country.