Aspirants for Haripur tehsils seats stand at 22

HARIPUR: At least 22 candidates, including 13 ticket holders of different political parties, are in the run for the upcoming direct election for the chairmanship of three tehsils of Haripur district, official sources said on Monday.

There were a total of 34 candidates, including two women, who had filed nomination papers for the tehsil chairman of Haripur, Khanpur and Ghazi tehsils.

However, five candidates from Haripur, two from Khanpur and four from Ghazi tehsils have withdrawn nomination papers while the nomination of former district nazim and candidate for the seat of Ghazi tehsil were rejected on technical grounds as the candidate failed to appear before the returning officer.

Monday was the last day for the withdrawal of nomination papers and submission of party tickets. There were 10 candidates, including a woman, who confirmed their candidature.

The candidates for the chairman slot of Haripur tehsil included former district nazim Akhtar Nawaz Khan of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Prof Imran Khan of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), Sardar Muhammad Haroon Khan of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN), former MPA and provincial senior vice chairperson of Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) Dr Faiza Rasheed, Umar Naseer Khan of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUIF), Muhammad Saleh Khan of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), while Zulfiqar Ahmad Khan, Mohibullah Qureshi, Samiullah Khan and former Tehsil Nazim Syed Ahsan Shah Mitha are contesting the election in an independent capacity.

For Khanpur tehsil chairmanship, only four candidates are in the run who included PTI’s Raja Shahab Sikandar, his first cousin Raja Haroon Sikandar who was PMLN’s candidate, Muhammad Faisal Awan of JI and Ali Zawar Naqvi was contesting the polls as an independent candidate.

For Ghazi tehsil chairman’s slot, former tehsil nazim Sahibzada Qasim Shah of PMLN, Malik Naveed Iqbal of PTI, Syed Farooq Shah of TLP, Hafiz-ur-Rahman of JI, while Irum Rasheed Tahirkheli, Khayam Islam, Rizwan Saeed Mughal and Khanzada are contesting as independents.