BAJAUR/DERA ISMAIL KHAN: A number of aspirants on Tuesday submitted their nomination papers for the by-election on Bajaur’s NA-8 and PK-22 and Dera’s NA-44 seats.

Sahibzada Haroon Rashid of JI, Maulana Khan Zab of ANP, Gul Zafar Khan of PTI, and former governor Eng Shaukatullah Khan and Mubarak Zeb Khan (independents) were prominent among those who filed papers for the Bajaur NA seat.

Mubarak Zeb is the younger brother of slain PTI leader Rehan Zeb Khan.

PTI’s former MNA Gul Dad Khan, Abid Khan of JI, Shah Naseer Khan of ANP, Imran Mahir of JUI-F and Mubarak Zeb Khan (independent) submitted papers for the provincial assembly seat.

The polling on the two seats in the Feb 8 election couldn’t take place owing to murder of Rehan Zeb, a PTI-affiliated independent candidate for both the constituencies, on January 31.

The by-election on Bjaur and Dera seats would be held on April 21.

Meanwhile, major political parties, including JUI-F and PPP, on Tuesday fielded their candidates for the by-poll on NA-44, Dera-I.

The seat was vacated by Ali Amin Gandapur, who opted to retain the provincial assembly seat as he was picked by the party’s founder Imran Khan for the chief minister’s slot.

According to district election commission, 18 candidates belonging to different political parties and independents filed their papers. Prominent among those included Faisal Amin Khan, Maulana Ziaur Rehman, Maulana Ubaidur Rehman, Farhan Afzal Dhap, Mohammad Kafeel Ahmad and Azizullah Alizai.

The constituency has a total of 391,882 registered voters, including 183,401 women.

The scrutiny of the nomination papers would be carried out till March 21, and the last date for filing appeals against the decisions of the ROs about rejection or acceptance of the nomination papers is March 25.

The appeals would be decided by the appellate tribunal by March 28, and on the same date, the revised list of candidates would be issued.

The candidates could withdraw their papers on March 29. Final list of candidates along with the allotted election symbols would be issued on March 30.

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2024