Candidates submit party tickets to ROs

Rawalpindi
The candidates for local government elections in Rawalpindi and Chaklala cantonment boards on Thursday submitted their party tickets to the returning officers (ROs).
Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) fielded their candidates in all 10 wards of the cantonment boards, while Pakistan People’s Party has yet to announce names of its candidates. On the other hand, Jamaat-e-Islami has nominated four candidates in both cantonment boards, whereas Awami Muslim League has fielded three candidates in RCB and one in CCB.
PML-N awarded its ticket to Hafiz Hussein Malik for Ward-9 of RCB while PTI fielded Tahleel Ahmed to contest him.
In Ward-6 of RCB, PML-N has awarded its ticket to Haji Zafar Iqbal, while his main competitor is PTI’s Tahir Abbas.
In Ward-9 of CCB, Raja Irfaan Imtiaz of PML-N would be contesting elections against 9 candidates but his tougher opponent would be Imran Ali Babar of PTI. Both Raja Irfan of PML-N and Imran Ali of PTI are working hard to gain the support of independent candidates and trying to convince them to withdraw their candidatures in their favour.
Today (Friday) is the last date for withdrawal of candidatures from the elections.
‘The News’ learnt through credible sources that two independent candidates are likely to be elected unopposed in Ward-1 and Ward-2 of RCB as other candidates are likely to withdraw their candidature today.
An official of the RCB, while confirming the report, told this scribe that names of these candidates cannot be announced unless the Election Commission of Pakistan issues a notification of their success and the remaining candidates withdraw their candidatures.