Minority representation: Non-Muslim seats to remain vacant in two neighbourhood councils

Imranabad’s candidate accused of contesting wrong constituency.

PESHAWAR: Two of the local government seats reserved for minorities in union council (UC) 12 of Peshawar Town-I will remain vacant in the absence of a non-Muslim population.

Neighbourhood councils Saeedabad, Rahimabad and Imranabad comprise over 17,000 voters. While there are minorities living in the first two, an uncontested Christian candidate Azhar Prince has come to the fore in Imranabad.

However, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf UC President Fida Mohammad claims Prince is not a resident of the constituency. Instead, he claims, Prince hails from Charaghabad, Shaheen Town. However, Awami National Party’s district council candidate Taj Muhammad refuted Fida’s claim and said Prince’s opponents have started the propaganda to hamper his uncontested victory. Muhammad said a jirga will soon be convened to resolve the conflict.

Breakdown

The Express Tribune learnt as many as 19 candidates are in the run for six neighbourhood seats in Saeedabad, while eight candidates are vying for youth, four for women, and six candidates are contesting the solitary worker/peasant seat.

Similarly, in Rahimabad, 10 candidates are in the run for general seats, four for youth and women each, and three candidates are in the run for worker/peasant seats.

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Act 2013 says a village or a neighbourhood council would elect a non-Muslim on a reserved seat.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 20^th, 2015.