November 24, 2007	Saturday	Ziqa’ad 13, 1428

PESHAWAR, Nov 23: About 150 people have obtained nomination papers during the last three days for four National Assembly and 11 provincial assembly constituencies of Peshawar.

The returning officers have been distributing forms since Nov 21 and potential candidates have until Nov 26 to file nomination papers but none has been filed so far.

Candidates belonging to all major political parties and alliances like the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, Pakistan People’s Party, the Awami National Party, the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and the ruling Pakistan Muslim League have obtained the nomination papers.

For the 15 constituencies of Peshawar, seven additional district and sessions judges and eight civil judges-cum-judicial magistrates have been designated as returning officers. District and Sessions Judge Miftauddin Khan is the district returning officer.

A returning officer said most of the forms were likely to be submitted during the last two days — that is, Sunday and Monday. Scrutiny of nomination papers would take place from Nov 27 to Dec 3 and polling would take place on Jan 8.

The returning officers had been provided nomination papers in three colours — white, pink and green.

White nomination papers are being given to people interested in contesting on general seats while pink papers are for candidates interested in seats reserved for women. Green papers are for candidates interested in running for seats reserved for minorities.

In the NWFP, there are eight women’s reserved seats for the National Assembly and 22 seats for the provincial assembly. There are three seats reserved for minorities in the province.

The seats reserved for women and minorities are filled through proportional representation in the assembly in accordance with the number of seats to be won by different political parties.