MINGORA, Oct 28: Candidates contesting the by-election for the National Assembly seat NA-35 (Malakand Agency) have started holding street-corner meetings and trying to take the notables of different areas into confidence in order to get their sympathies.

The contestants are: Muhammad Humayun Khan of the People's Party Parliamentarians, Salim Saifullah Khan of the Pakistan Muslim League, Bakhtiar Maani of the MMA, Ijaz Khan and Naseemur Rehman of the Awami National Party, Sarfraz and Muhammad Fayyaz of the PPP (Hoti group), Maulana Hamidullah Rughani of the Jamiat Ulema Islam (JUI), Shah Nawaz advocate of the Jamiat Ulema Islam (Sami ul Haq group), Muhammad Idrees Bacha and Sajjad Khan of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N), Nisar Muhammad Khan of the PPP (Sherpao).

Earlier, Nov 18, had been fixed for the by-polls, which was later extended up to Dec 15.