ISLAMABAD: Sixty-nine candidates, seven of them women, are vying for 10 seats reserved for non-Muslims in the National Assembly, according to the final list issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) here on Monday.
They have been nominated by 18 political parties in order of preference under Section 47A of the People’s Representation Act, 1976.
The ECP had received 161 nomination papers from all over the country, but rejected 92 because the candidates had not been nominated by any political party.
Non-Muslim members are elected in proportion to the number of general seats won by political parties in the elections.
Article 51(6e) of the constitution says: “The members to the seats reserved for non-Muslims shall be elected in accordance with law through proportional representation system of political parties’ lists of candidates on the basis of total number of general seats won by each political party in the National Assembly.”
The PPP has awarded the highest number of 12 tickets to non-Muslim candidates, followed by the PML-Q (nine), the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (eight), the PML-N (seven), the Jamaat-i-Islami and the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam ( six each), the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and the All Pakistan Muslim League (five each), the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (two), and the ANP, PML-F, the Balochistan National Party-Mengal, the National Party, Awami Muslim League, PML-J, JUI-Nazaryati, People’s Muslim League and Tehrik-i-Tahafuz Pakistan (one each).
The prominent PPP candidates are former MNA Ramesh Lal, Dr Khatu Mal Jeewan, Dr Paul Jacob Bhatti and Mahesh Kumar Malani.
Akram Masih Gill, former federal minister for interfaith harmony, has once again been nominated by the PML-Q.
Following is the list of candidates:
PPP: Ramesh Lal (Larkana); Pahlaj Mal (Rohri); Dya Ram (Buner); Dr Khatu Mal Jeewan (Umerkot); Dr Saroop Chand (Mirpurkhas); Mr Amber (Bannu); Mehar Chand (Jacobabad); Naseeb Chand (Hangu); Khem Chand (Karachi); George Paul (Lahore); Dr Paul Jacob Bhatti (Islamabad); Mahesh Kumar Malani (Tharparkar).
PML-Q: Akram Masih Gilani (Lahore); Munir Minhas (Talagang); Basant Lal Gulshan (Quetta); Tariq Javed (Hafizabad); James Masih (Gujranwala); Leela alias Kalpana (Larkana); Iqbal Masih alias Bala (Toba Tek Singh); Zaheer Babar (Faisalabad); Jagjeet Singh (Tharparkar).
PTI: Lal Chand (Umerkot); Inder Lal (Buner); George Clement (Faisalabad); Soron Singh (Buner); Amir John Francis (Quetta); Sajid Ishaq Sandhu (Islamabad); Shunila Ruth (Lahore); Jai Kumar (Hyderabad).
PML-N: Ramesh Kumar Vankwani (Karachi); Tariq Christopher Qaiser (Sargodha); Isphanyar Bhandara (Rawalpindi); Anita Irfan (Quetta); Mr Khalil (Quetta); Bahawan Das (Sanghar); Dr Darshan (Ghotki).
JI: Mahmood Gill (Lahore); Pervaiz Masih (Peshawar); Younis Gill (Islamabad); Younis Sohan (Karachi); Humaira (Karachi); Emmanuel Francis (Quetta).
JUI-F: Asiya Nasir (Quetta); Devanand (Jacobabad); Akram Waqar Gill (Arifwala); Ravi Kumar Khatri (Sukkur); Patras Bhatti (Faisalabad); Ranjeet Singh (Kohat).
MQM: Manwer Lal (Karachi); Sanjay Perwani (Karachi); Hargun Das Ahuja (Larkana); Mangla Sharma (Karachi); Rashid Khan (Karachi).
APML: Javed Akhtar Bhatti (Islamabad); Sohail Anjum (Islamabad); Ashar Adnan (Islamabad); Jugnu Bruce (Lahore); Aakash Raj (Rawalpindi).
PkMAP: Jagdesh Kumar (Killa Abdullah); Tahir Jadoon Johnson (Quetta).
ANP: Ashok Kumar Kapoor (Mardan).
PML-F: Oam Parkash (Sanghar).
BNP-M: Raj Kumar (Quetta).
NP: Handery Masih (Mastung).
PML-J: Javed Paul (Gujranwala).
AML: Iqbal Masih Khokhar (Sialkot).
JUI-N: Hina (Quetta).
People’s Muslim League: Kanji Mal (Umerkot).
Tehrik-i-Tahafuz Pakistan: Faheem Iqbal (Bannu).
