ANP unveils candidates for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa

Party announces candidates for 77 out of 99 provincial seats across K-P.

PESHAWAR: A day after the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl unveiled its election candidates for the National Assembly and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, the Awami National Party (ANP) followed suit by announcing 29 national and 77 provincial candidates.

The party, however, has to finalise its candidates for 22 provincial, 12 national and six Fata constituencies, parliamentary board secretary Arbab Muhammad Tahir Khan said on Tuesday.

ANP chief Asfandyar Wali Khan will contest the election from his native seat – NA-7 (Charsadda-I), while former provincial chief minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti will contest from one National Assembly seat(NA-9 Mardan) and one provincial assembly (PK-23).

At a party meeting in Bacha Khan Markaz, chaired by former senator Afrasiab Khattak, the parliamentary board also formally nominated Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour for – NA-1 (Peshawar-I), Arbab Najeebullah Khan for – NA-2 (Peshawar-II), Arbab Inamullah Khan Gul Bela for – NA-3 (Peshawar-III) and Arbab Ayub Jan – NA-4 for (Peshawar-IV).

The party remained undecided on NA-16, 17, 18 and seats reserved for minorities and women. The candidates for those constituencies are likely to be finalised on Wednesday (today).

The board announced candidates for 77 out of 99 provincial seats across K-P. Former K-P information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain will contest from PK-12 (Nowshera).

Published in The Express Tribune, March 27^th, 2013.