AAT fifth largest party fielding 250 candidates

ISLAMABAD: Little known Allah-o-Akbar Tehreek (AAT) has emerged as the fifth largest party by fielding 250 candidates for general seats, including ten females, reveal statistics, released by the Election Commission of Pakistan Friday.

After not having been registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) last year and again this year, the candidates of the Milli Muslim League, are now contesting the nation-wide electoral from the platform of AAT with ‘Chair’ as its election symbol. MML and AAT are seen as the political face of banned Jamaatud Dawah of Prof Hafiz Muhammad Saeed.

AAT has tossed up as many as 50 candidates for the National Assembly seats from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, whereas the remaining 200 are vying mainly also from these two provinces. In a video message on social media, Prof Hafiz Saeed said that the AAT would strengthen Pakistan and bring more stability in the country. Interestingly, as per the law, it was supposed to give tickets to 12 females.

Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, (with ‘Book’ as its election symbol), a conglomeration of the mainstream religio-political parties, has fielded a record 616 candidates, including 33 females, making it the fourth largest in this respect. Up to 30 tickets were due to MMA’s females as per the law.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz fielded a total of 676 candidates and of these 37 are female candidates, whereas PPPP has tossed up 685 candidates with representation given to females is 43. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf with 811 candidates is the largest party to field maximum candidates but 42 females. PPP hence is the largest party in terms of giving 43 tickets to females.

A spokesman of the Election Commission told The News that almost all major parties had fulfilled the legal requirement of the Section 206 of the Elections Act, 2017, which makes it binding on political parties to give at least 5 percent tickets of total tickets to female members of a party.

He explained that some small and regional parties had failed to meet the legal requirement and their cases would be put to the Election Commission for further direction.

Awami National Party has given tickets to 14 of its female acrtivists, whereas the legal number was nine. In all, ANP has tossed up 201 candidates.

The newly-formed Grand Democratic Alliance has fielded 122 candidates, including eight female members, whereas legally, it was supposed to give tickets to five of its members.

Pak Sarzameen Party fielded 160 candidates and 12 of them are females, whereas the legal requirement was seven tickets. Muttahida Qaumi Movement has tossed up a total of 100 candidates and of these, six are females.

The act mandates allocation of 5 percent of total tickets to females, failing which can land a political party in trouble, as the Election Commission can deny election symbol to that party. However, how will the issue be handled by the electoral body, as printing of ballot papers is already in progress while some parties have not fulfilled the legal requirement, including AAT.