Reserved seats for minorities: Nomination papers of 22 candidates accepted

Eight candidates’ papers are yet to be approved.

PESHAWAR:

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday accepted at least 22 nomination papers of candidates vying for seats reserved for minorities in the provincial legislature.

An ECP official said 22 nomination papers were screened and accepted out of a total of 30 candidates. Approval of nomination papers of eight candidates were put on hold till Friday (today) due to various issues, he added.

At least 70 nomination papers were filed by aspiring candidates for minority seats in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly. This number dropped to 30 after political parties sent in their priority lists to the ECP, explained the official.

There are two seats reserved for minorities in the K-P Assembly.

The nominees

The Awami National Party has nominated Gulshan Yousaf Bhatti and Jetandar Singh; Pakistan Peoples Party has chosen Yousaf George, Naseeb Chand, Parvindar Kumar, Babar and Jaswant Das; Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has named Azeem Ghuri, Shakeel Chandar, Nighat Bibi, Fareed Chand and Younas Gul; Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has nominated Suran Singh, Ravi Kumar and Wazir Zada; Jamaat-e-Islami has chosen Rashid Masih, Ganga Wesh, Suresh Kumar and Sari Chand; Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam has named Askar Pervez, Felix and Gorsarn Lal; Qaumi Watan Party has selected Qaseem Din, Junaid Saqib and Riaz Malik.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 5^th, 2013.