216 candidates to contest RCB, CCB elections

RAWALPINDI: As many as 216 candidates are going to contest the local government elections in Rawalpindi Cantonment Board and Chaklala Cantonment Board. The candidates were allotted electoral symbols on Friday. According to Returning Officers of Rawalpindi Cantonment Board, Muhammad Umar Farooq, Ali Malik and Shahid Iqbal, 140 candidates had submitted their nomination papers for different wards in RCB. Out of these, the nomination papers of 22 candidates were rejected on different grounds. The nomination papers of 12 candidates out of over 110 candidates were rejected for failing to fulfil the election criteria, stated Returning Officers Wasim Shahid and Muhammad Hayat for the Chaklala Cantonment Board. According to the list of eligible candidates displayed by RCB returning officers, around 17 candidates would vie for the seat of councilor in Ward 1, followed by 21 in Ward 2, 10 in Ward 3, 12 in Ward 4 and seven in Ward 5. Similarly, the RCB declared six candidates eligible for Ward 6, 15 for Ward 7, nine for Ward 8, seven for Ward 9 and 12 for Ward 10. On the other hand, the returning officers in the Chaklala Cantonment Board declared four candidates eligible in Ward 1, nine in Ward 2, 13 in Ward 3, seven in Ward 4 and 10 in Ward 5. Besides, the returning officers declared 11 candidates eligible for Ward 6, nine for Ward 7, 12 for Ward 8, 11 for Ward 9, and 12 for Ward 10. The returning officers allotted the traditional election symbols to candidates belonging to leading political parties, such as ‘arrow’ to Pakistan People's Party (PPP), ‘lion’ to Pakistan Muslim League N, ‘bat’ to Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI). Besides, the electoral symbols of crane, tractor, chair, etc, were allotted to candidates of other parties and independent candidates. According to political pundits, the real contest is likely to be held among the PML-N, PTI, Jamaat-e-Islami and Pakistan People's Party (PPP). It is pertinent to mention that PML-N has been dominating the politics of both boards for the last 28 years. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the cantonment authorities have laid down strict conditions to run election campaigns in 42 cantonment boards across the country. Elections of cantonment boards on a party-basis would be held on September 12.