Minorities stay away from LG polls

Only 365 submit papers against 2,382 seats

PESHAWAR:

Minorities have kept themselves away from the local bodies’ election in the first phase of the polls scheduled for next month in 17 districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

This is evident from the official records as against total seats of 2,382 only 364 minority candidates have submitted nomination papers.

“There are only 364 minority candidates in the 17 district which shows lack of interest on the part of minorities in the elections,” said an official of the Provincial Election Commission. He added that there are more candidates on the youth and women seats which is a good sign.

The records of Election Commission shows that there are only 148 candidates against the 357 minority seats in Peshawar district, 23 candidates on 146 seats in Nowshera, 10 candidates against 153 seats in Charsadda, 23 candidates against 147 seats in Khyber, four candidates against 65 seats in Mohmand, 22 candidates against 231 seats in Mardan, two candidates against 160 seats in Swabi, 18 candidates against 107 seats in Kohat, two candidates against 61 seats in Karak, 16 candidates against 62 seats in Hangu, 15 candidates against 116 seats in Bannu, six candidates against 78 seats in Lakki Marwat, 24 candidates against 186 seats in DI Khan, 11 candidates against 180 seats in Haripur, three candidates against 127 seats in Bajaur and three candidates against 105 seats in Buner district.

On the other hand there are 2,382 seats for youth and 6,745 candidates have submitted nomination papers against these seats while the total number of women candidates stands at 4,214.

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When contacted Special Assistance to CM on Minorities Wazir Zada said that there were no minorities in some union and village councils that is why the seats were vacant and there were no candidates there. He said that minority candidates had been elected unopposed too.

The spokesperson of Election Commission, Sohail Ahmad said that the first phase of submitting papers is complete. He said that if a seat is vacant then by-elections will be held on it including on minority seats.

The district president of minority wing of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Danial Samuel claimed that there was very short time for the submission of papers and a lot of uncertainty surrounding the polls so that was why minorities were unable to submit papers.

The provincial president of JI minority wing and former MNA Pervaiz Masih told The Express Tribune that minorities especially the Christian and Hindu communities were the poorest in K-P province.

“When I asked them to submit papers they didn’t show any interest, saying that they were making both ends meet with difficulty and had no time for politics,” he claimed, adding that the recent inflation had hit them hard and they were not interested to take parts in polling.

“The scheduled announced by ECP was also very tight and our community is not an organized one so both these two factors kept them away from the elections,” he said.

He said that the Sikh community was comparatively well-off but still it also didn’t take interest in the polls which is strange.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 18^th, 2021.