PESHAWAR, Sept 7: Twelve political parties in the NWFP have fielded 178 aspirants to contest for the 30 reserved seats for women in the national and provincial assemblies.

Initially, 131 women candidates of various parties had submitted their nomination papers for the 22 reserved seats in the NWFP Assembly, but two of the papers were rejected after scrutiny. And for the eight seats of the National Assembly in the province, 49 papers had been filed and accepted.

The parties that have fielded their women aspirants include the National Awami Party, Pakistan Muslim League (QA), People’s Party Parliamentarians, National Alliance, Pakistan People’s Party (Sherpao), Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, Pakistan Awami Party, Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf, PML(N), Pakistan Awami Tehrik, PML(J) and Awami National Party.

“These political parties have already submitted priority lists of their candidates. Under the law, women candidates of a party, which secures over five per cent general seats in the province, will be entitled to fill the reserved seats,” NWFP Election Commissioner Mohammed Altaf Khan said.

In the previous three general elections of 1990, 1993 and 1997, there were not any reserved seats for the women as the constitutional provision dealing with the women quota in assemblies had lapsed.