PESHAWAR, Sept 15: Following withdrawal of nomination papers, 104 candidates are now in the run for the four national assembly and 11 provincial assembly seats in Peshawar.
According to final lists of candidates notified by the respective returning officers, 23 candidates are contesting for the four national assembly seats, while 81 are vying for the 11 provincial assembly seats.
Almost all the major political parties and groups, including the PPP, ANP, PML(N), MMA, PML(QA), PPP (Sherpao) and PTI have fielded their candidates.
The number of candidates for the national assembly seats are: 6 on NA-1, 4 on NA-2, 7 on NA-3 and 6 on NA-4.
The number of provincial assembly candidates in the 11 constituencies are: 9 on PF-1, 12 on PF-2, 11 on PF-3, 8 on PF-4, 9 on PF-5, 5 on PF-6, 6 each on PF-7 and PF-8, 4 on PF-9, 5 on PF-10 and 6 on PF-11.
Only two former parliamentarians — former senator and provincial general secretary of PML(N), Iqbal Zaffar Jhagra and ex-MNA of ANP, Arbab Zahir — are in the fray for the national assembly seats.
Similarly, only 8 former MPAs are trying their luck in the general elections. These candidates are former speaker NWFP Assembly, Hidayatullah Chamkani of ANP, former deputy speaker, Haji Adeel of ANP, former provincial ministers Arbab Ayub Jan of NAPP, Syed Ali Shah of PML(QA), Bashir Bilour of ANP and Iftikhar Jhagra of PPP, and ex-MPAs Ayub Shah of PPP and Haji Abdul Raziq of PML(N).
The candidates on NA-1 (Peshawar I) are: Shabir Ahmad Khan of MMA, Usman Bilour of ANP, Moazam Butt of PML(QA), Muhammad Khursheed advocate (Ind), Sajid Abdullah of PTI and Rabia Mufti, the lone female candidate contesting against general seats here.
Usman Bilour is the son of Bashir Bilour and nephew of Haji Ghulam Bilour who had won this seat on three occasions, but this time he was not qualified to contest due to the graduation condition.
Similarly, Muhammad Khursheed is a PPP dissident, opposing seat-adjustment with ANP in the Peshawar district.
On NA-2, the contesting candidates are Arbab Alamgir Khan of PPP, Maulana Rehmatullah of MMA, Abdul Manan Akhundzada of PPP(Sherpao) and Khalid Ayub of Awami Tehrik. Arbab Alamgir is the son of former NWFP chief minister Arbab Jehangir who never lost elections here.
The candidates on NA-3 are: Iqbal Jhagra of PML(N), Kiramatullah Khan of PPP, Arbab Ayub Jan of NAPP, Akhter Ali Khan (Ind), Qari Fayyazur Rehman of MMA and Hidayatullah of PPP(S).
The six candidates contesting on NA-4 (Peshawar IV) are: Arbab Zahir of ANP, Haji Abdul Raziq of PML(N), Muhammad Intikhab of PML(Z), Sabir Hussain Awan of MMA, Arbab Shabir Ahmad of PML(QA) and Haji Jawed Iqbal of PTI.
