GHALANAI, April 12: Five members of a political family have submitted nomination papers for the lone National Assembly seat in Mohmand tribal region.

According to observers, a tough competition is expected in NA-36 constituency of Mohmand Agency as 43 candidates including former MNA Malik Bilal Rehman and his father Nawabzada Malik Abdur Rehman, have filed nomination papers for the seat.

The five members of the same family, running for the seat, include Malik Bilal Rehman, his father Malik Abdur Rehman, his uncle and former senator Malik Abdul Wahid, his cousin Malik Dawood Khan and another uncle Malik Fazale Hadi.

Other candidates, who have submitted papers from the constituency, include Dr Farooq Afzal of Pakistan People’s Party, former MNA Maulana Ghulam Mohammad Sadiq of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl, Mohammad Saeed Khan of Jamaat-i-Islami, Malik Zar Khan Safi of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Malik Dawood, Sajid Khan, Fakhre Alam and Rahim Shah Khan of Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf.

Some independent candidates including Abdul Waheed Safi, Nisar Momand, Malik Safdar Musakhel, Abdul Waheed Khan, Maulana Amirullah Junaidi, Maulana Samiullah and Abid Shah are also in the run for the seat.

All the candidates of the main political parties are making claims about winning the seat in the upcoming general elections. Observers said that there would a tough contest among the contenders.

However, some of them said that Malik Bilal had a strong vote bank and he took credit for upgrading Ghalanai grid station, installing 2,700 dug wells in the agency and upgrading 12 schools besides constructing five basic units and several links roads in the far flung Ambar, Pandiali, Prang Ghar and Haleemzai areas.

The former MNA also claimed credit for approving Khewazai grid station and executing several small and big projects during his tenure.

There are 179,304 registered voters in Mohmand Agency including 119,259 men and 60,045 women. According to officials, 50 candidates had submitted nomination papers for seat out of which 43 were accepted and seven were rejected.

They said that 107 polling stations, 73 for men and 34 for women, would be established in the tribal region during the upcoming elections.

They said that 19 polling stations would set up in Safi, five in Kheweazai, 14 in Biazai, 19 in Haleemzai, 22 in Pandilai, 11 in Ambar, 12 in Ekkaghound and five in Prang Ghar.

The turnout in Mohmand Agency remained 23 per cent during 2008 general elections. However, it is expected that turnout will remain high in the area during the upcoming elections owing to extension of Political Parties Order to Fata.