23 contesting for NA seats in KP, tribal districts on ‘jeep’ symbol

PESHAWAR: At least 23 candidates, including former parliamentarians who are contesting for the National Assembly seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the adjoining tribal districts have been allotted the election symbol of ‘jeep’.

As per the final list issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), another 47 candidates are contesting for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly seats with ‘jeep’ as their election symbol.

The ‘jeep’ symbol is under discussion in the mainstream and social media after its allotment to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) dissidents, including former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and former provincial minister Zaeem Qadri.

After the allotment of the symbol to the PML-N dissidents, the party leader Maryam Nawaz had alleged that the symbol of ‘jeep’ was becoming the symbol of ‘aliens’ and ‘khalai makhlooq’.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the jeep election symbol was also allotted to former speaker Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Bakht Jehan Khan, who belongs to the Jamaat-i-Islami, is running for PK-20 Buner-I.

Bakht Jehan Khan is contesting the general election 2018 as an independent candidate after the local unit of Jamaat-e-Islami and JUI-F failed to reach agreement on the nomination of a joint candidate to contest from the platform of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) ticket.

The jeep symbol was also allotted to former MMA lawmaker Muhammad Zakir Shah, who is also contesting the election as an independent candidate from PK-76 Peshawar.

According to the ECP’s list uploaded on its website, the jeep symbol has been allotted to 23 candidates contesting for National Assembly seats from KP and erstwhile Fata, now called tribal districts after the merger with KP.

The candidates who are contesting the election for the National Assembly seats on the jeep symbol include Shahzad Khan for NA-4 Swat, Mubarak Jan for NA-7 Lower Dir, Muhammad Saeed for NA-12 Battagram, Goshen Zaman for NA-14, Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob for NA-15 Abbottabad, Muhammad Rohail for NA-16 Abbottabad, Fazal Akram for NA-18 Swabi, Naveed Ali for NA-27 Peshawar, Rohullah from NA-31 Peshawar,

Shamsur Rehman Khattak from NA-34 Karak, Muhammad Ayub Khan from NA-37 Tank, Syed Hasnain Mohiyuddin from NA-38 Dara Ismail Khan, Asmatullah from NA-39 Dera Ismail Khan, Maubar Khan from NA-40 Bajaur tribal district, Hafeezur Rehman from NA-41 Mohmand tribal district, Anwar Khan from NA-44 Khyber tribal district, Khayal Marjan from NA-45 central Kurram tribal district, Syed Irshad Hussain from NA-46 Kurram tribal district, Pir Muhammad Awal Shah from NA-48 North Waziristan, Zahoor Khan from NA-49 South Waziristan, Javed Iqbal from NA-50 South Waziristan and Baz Gul from NA-51 tribal subdivisions (former Frontier Region) Tank.