The official added there are four tehsils in the district with 56 union councils.
An official of the Swabi election commission office said there are 1,120 general councillor seats for which they have received 2,009 papers. He added they have also received 366 nomination papers for women’s seats, 690 for peasants, 642 for youth and 17 for minorities’ seats. At least 392 nomination papers have been received for district council seats, he said.
The official added there are four tehsils in the district with 56 union councils. Swabi tehsil comprises 14 union councils, Chota Lahor 11, Topi 11 and Razar 20. He said 424 candidates have submitted their forms for the tehsil council seats to their respective returning officers.
The election commission officer added the number of district and tehsil councillor seats will be increased with additional reserved seats: 33% for women, 5% youth and the same proportion for peasants and minorities seats.
Distribution of power
He said the person who gets the maximum votes in a ward on a general seat will automatically be made a nazim and the one who stands second will be made a naib nazim at the ward level.
Several candidates on reserved and general seats, The Express Tribune learnt, have been selected unopposed as they had no one standing against them.
The political leadership in Swabi district is divided into three main alliances, one of them between Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Jamaat-e-Islami and Awami Jamhoori Ittehad Pakistan.
The political gurus in Swabi foresee AJIP to be the dominating party at the district and tehsil level, especially in Razar and Swabi tehsils. They believe PTI will do well in Chota Lahor along with JI which might also do well in Swabi tehsil.
The other prominent alliance comprises opposition parties: Awami National Party, Pakistan Peoples Party and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl. According to experts in the district, the opposition alliance will field ANP for the district council seats since the party has significant influence in the district.
The third alliance comprises two parties, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Qaumi Watan Party, which has fielded candidates in various wards of the district.
The election commission has set up 797 polling stations in the district for the local government elections that will be held on May 30 across the province.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 21st, 2015.
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