PESHAWAR: Widow of slain Awami National Party leader Haroon Bilour will contest the by-election on PK-78, Peshawar.

The party’s parliamentary board which met here on Monday decided to allot ticket to Ms Samar, the widow of Haroon Bilour, according to a statement. For the first time a woman from the Bilour family is contesting election on a general seat.

Election in PK-78 was postponed after assassination of Haroon Bilour in a suicide attack on July 10. The blast had killed 22 people and caused injuries to 30 others.

The statement said that the board nominated candidates for five other vacant seats. It said that Waqar Ahmed Khan would contest on PK-7, Swat, Ghulam Hassan on PK-44, Swabi, Ahmed Bahadur Khan on PK-53, Pervaiz Ahmed Khan on PK-61, Nowshera, and Shahid Khattak on PK-63.

The statement said that Sardar Hussain Babak, Aimal Wali Khan, Khursheed Khattak and Syed Shahid Raza attended the meeting.

According to the Election Commission of Pakistan, by-election on national and provincial assembly seats will be held on Oct 14.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2018