PESHAWAR: A total of 32 candidates, including eight women, remained in the race for 11 seats of Senate from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the returning officer completed scrutiny of nomination papers on Tuesday.

The final lists released by the Election Commission of Pakistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa office, show that 18 candidates are contesting the election for seven general seats, six candidates for two seats in the technocrat category and eight aspirants for two seats reserved for women.

Nomination papers of Zafarullah Khattak and Ali Khan of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf were rejected because neither the candidates nor their authorised agents or their proposer and seconder attended the scrutiny process, said the commission. Provincial election commissioner Pir Maqbool Ahmad chaired the scrutiny process.

18 to contest for seven general, six for two technocrat and eight for two women’s seats

Chief of his own faction of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Maulana Samiul Haq is contesting for both general and technocrat categories. PTI is yet to formally announce support for Maulana Samiul Haq in the elections, though two MPAs who recently joined the ruling party had become the proposer and seconder for him.

According to the lists, Ali Afzal Khan Jadoon, Haji Dildar Khan, Syed Mohammad Sabir Shah and Mohammad Qasim Shah are Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz candidates for the general seats. Faisal Sakhi Butt and Bahramand are Pakistan Peoples Party candidates for the general category. Papers of PTI’s Khial Zaman, Fida Mohammad, Faisal Javed and Abdul Latif Yousafzai were cleared during the scrutiny for general seats.

Like Maulana Sami, the sitting advocate general Abdul Latif Yousafzai is the PTI candidate for general as well as technocrat categories.

Maulana Gul Naseeb and Mohammad Talha Mahmood are Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl candidates on general seats. Mushtaq Ahmad Khan and Abdul Wasi are Jamaat-i-Islami candidates on the general seat. Papers of Mohammad Ghufran of Qaumi Watan Party and Masood Abbas of Awami National Party were also cleared for general category.

Mohammad Azam Khan Swati and Abdul Latif Yousafzai of PTI, Mohammad Yaqoob Shaikh of JUI-F, Maulana Samiul Haq of JUI-S, Dilawar Khan of PML-N and Nisar Khan (independent) are contesting for the two technocrat seats.

Papers of Naeema Kishwar Khan of JUI-F, Shagufta Malik of ANP, Meher Taj Roghani of PTI, Rubina Khalid of PPP, Raeesa Daud and Sobia Shahid of PML-N and Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli of QWP were accepted for women reserved seats. Last date of filing appeals against the acceptance or rejection of nomination papers is Feb 15.

An appellate tribunal consisting of Justice Mussarat Hilali of the Peshawar High Court will decide appeals until Feb 17, while Feb 19 is the last date for withdrawal of nomination papers. Polling will take place on March 3.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians special committee for KP Senate elections, led by provincial president Hamayun Khan, met ANP provincial president Ameer Haider Khan Hoti on Tuesday and discussed with him the upcoming polls.

Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2018