FAISALABAD, Oct 12: Twenty newcomers, seven to national and 13 to provincial assemblies, have been elected in the election 2002.

Eleven new faces contested National Assembly and 21 Punjab Assembly election in Faisalabad district. A majority of the winners are close relatives of former parliamentarians and clinched their seats with the active support of their elders. The educational qualification condition imposed by the military regime provided opportunity to them to contest election.

The first-time MNAs-elect are; Ghulam Rasool Sahi (NA-75), Asim Nazir (NA-77), Rajab Ali Baloch (NA-78), Mushtaq Ali Cheema (NA-83), all from the PML-Q platform, Asif Tauseef (NA-80) and Abid Sher Ali (NA-84) of the PML-N, and Dr Nisar Ahmad (NA-81) of the PPP.

The MPAs-elect are; Raza Shahid Waseer (PP-53), Mian Ghulam Haider Bari (PP-54), Khalid Mahmood Wattoo (PP-57), Arif Mahmood Gill (PP-59), Khalid Mahmood (PP-60), Rai Ahsan Kharal (PP-62), Jehanzeb Imtiaz Gill (PP-64), Riaz Shahid (PP-66), Dr Asad Moazzam (PP-67), Faizullah Kamoka (PP-68), Malik Asghar Ali Qaisar (PP-69), Nawaz Malik (PP-71) and Advocate Sheikh Ijaz Ahmad (PP-72).

Re-emergence of the PPP in the district is more significant than the victory of the PML-Q. The former grabbed one national and nine provincial assembly seats while the latter got six national and nine provincial assembly seats. The PML-N has been the third party with four national and three provincial assembly seats.

Turnout in 1988 was 49.10 per cent. The PPP got six while the IJI three seats. There was no significant change in the turnout in 1990 which was 50.89 per cent. The IJI won eight national assembly seats while the PPP could win only one.

In the 1993 election, turnout was 49.01 per cent when the PPP staged a comeback and won five seats while the PML-N bagged four.

In 1997, 40.21 per cent voters used their right to vote in which the PML-N swept all nine seats.