Four woman candidates receive papers to contest on general seats in KP

PESHAWAR: Four woman candidates including a cousin of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan have received nomination papers for contesting the election on general seats from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Noor Jehan, the cousin of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, has obtained nomination forms from the returning officer for constituency PK-77.

Taking to The News, Noor Jehan said she would submit nomination papers in a day or two after opening her account for the election.

Noor Jehan, who remained district and town councillor, stated that members of the Rotary Club, Peshawar, were her main supporters in the election.

She responded in the affirmative when asked if the name of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan would benefit her in election. However, she said that her late father Ghulam Muhammad, called Gama by fellow Peshawaris, was a freedom fighter and his name and role in the freedom movement would help her as well in the election.

She said her family had remained a part of the Khudai Khidmatgar Movement of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, lovingly called Bacha Khan by his supporters.

“I will launch my election campaign after Eid,” she said, adding, “I want to work for women’s empowerment and focus on the problems in the constituency.”

Noor Jehan resides in Mohallah Shah Wali Qataal, at the back of Qissa Khwani Bazaar. Being Shah Rukh’s paternal cousin, she visited the Bollywood superstar twice and the family maintains a close contact with their relatives across the border. Shah Rukh Khan visited Peshawar along with his parents twice during his childhood.

Similarly, woman worker of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) from Upper Dir, Hamida Shahid, submitted her nomination papers to contest the election on the general seat from PK-10 Dir-I on the party ticket.

For the first time in the history, a female candidate from Dir district is contesting election on general seat in a constituency, which is a stronghold of a religio-political party, Jamaat-i-Islami.

Hamida Shahid is an active PTI women leader and she is also a central in-charge of the PTI’s Sport and Cultural Wing.

She told The News she had submitted the nomination papers after the party awarded her the ticket.

Hamida Shahid is contesting the election from the constituency, where the women voters are barred from the election after verbal agreements between all the political parties’ candidates.

Recently, the Election Commission of Pakistan had declared by-election of tehsil nazims in the Dir district as void after the woman voters were barred from voting. After that the candidates allowed the female to cast their votes in the election.

However, Hamida Shahid said that for the first time, under the Election Act, 2017 the women’s right to vote was secured and under the new law 10 per cent female votes were mandatory for winning the seat.

However, she said that she would launch door-to-door election campaign and corner meetings for getting support in the election. “I hope to win the election and work for the women of the district, who are always deprived of due rights,” she said.

The PK-10 is a stronghold of Jamaat-e-Islami and Muhammad Ali was elected in 2013 general election. He has again filed nomination papers for PK-10 to contest the election.

Asia Khattak, another PTI worker and district councillor Peshawar, has submitted nomination papers for contesting the election on a general seat.

A social worker, Sahar, a resident of Gulburg Peshawar, also received nomination papers from the returning officer on Friday for contesting the election for constituency PK-75.