PESHAWAR, March 31: As many as 99 nomination papers were filed by candidates for the four National Assembly constituencies and 263 papers for 11 provincial assembly constituencies of Peshawar, as the time for filing of nomination papers ended at Sunday midnight. Officials at the election control room said that 35 nomination papers were filed with the returning officer (RO) of NA-1 Peshawar-I, Haq Nawaz Swathi; 20 with RO of NA-2, Inamullah Wazir; 18 papers with the RO of NA-3, Ajmal Wazir; and 26 papers were filed with the RO of NA- 4, Kashif Nadeem.

For the provincial assembly, 15 nomination papers were filed for PK-1 Peshawar-I, 32 papers for PK-2, 31 papers for PK-3, 26 papers each for PK-4, PK-5 and PK-6, 21 papers for PK-7, 16 for PK-8, 28 for PK-9, 18 for PK-10 and 24 for PK-11, Peshawar XI. The earlier deadline of 4:00pm Sunday for filing of nomination papers was extended by the Election Commission of Pakistan till midnight.

Interestingly, one of the returning officers, Ahmad Iftikhar, had to skip his walima ceremony and throughout the day he remained present for receiving nomination papers. Mr Iftikhar, who is a civil judge cum judicial magistrate, had reached for his barat (marriage procession) in time on Saturday evening after completing the day’s work. An official at the court said that the walima had to be organised without the bridegroom.

Prominent among the candidates who filed nomination papers for NA-1 are former federal minister Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan, former Jamaat-e-Islami MNA Shabir Ahmad Khan, Zulfiqar Afghani of PPP, Hussain Ahmad Madni of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (F) and independent candidate advocate Khursheed Khan.

For NA-2, prominent candidates include former federal minister Arbab Alamgir, Arbab Najeeb of ANP, former district naib nazim Iqbal Khalil of JI, Yaseen Khalil and Khalid Masood of PTI and Iqtidar Afridi of PML-N. The important candidates for NA-3 are Senator Ghulam Ali of JUI-F, former MNA Noor Alam Khan, Hashim Babar and Sajid Nawaz of PTI, Iqbal Zafar Jhagra of PML-N and Arbab Inam of ANP.

Furthermore, for NA -4 the leading candidates are former minister Arbab Ayub of ANP, Khalid Waqas of JI, Iftikhar Jhagra of PPP and Asmatullah of PML-N.

RESERVED SEATS: Around 73 nomination papers were filed with provincial election commissioner Sono Khan Baloch for the eight seats reserved for women in the National Assembly from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Similarly, 220 nomination papers were filed by women belonging to different political parties against the 22 seats reserved for women in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.

Around 68 nomination papers were filed by candidates for the three seats reserved for minorities in KP Assembly. The reserved seats would be filled on proportional representation basis in accordance with the seats won by the political parties.

Under the law nomination papers of only those candidates would be entertained whose names have been mentioned in the priority lists of the respective political parties.

Prominent among those who filed papers for the National Assembly are: former MNAs Bushra Gohar and Jamila Gillani of ANP, Asma Alamgir and Shazia Aurangzeb of PPP, Samia Raheel Qazi and Enayat Begum of JI and Tahira Bukhari of PML-N.

Similarly, prominent among the candidates for provincial assembly are: former MPAs Shazia Tehmas, Nighat Aurakzai, Mehr Sultana, Noor Sehar and Sanjeeda Yousaf of PPP; Shumaila Tabasum of ANP, Nasreen Khattak of PML-N and others.