RAWALPINDI: As many as 208 candidates, including 83 independents, are in the run for 16 National Assembly (NA) seats of Rawalpindi Division, including three of Islamabad, and 277, including 100 independents, for 27 seats of Provincial Assembly (PA) of Punjab.
The Federal Capital is included with the Rawalpindi Division, which comprises Rawalpindi, Chakwal, Attock, and Jhelum districts, by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for holding of the general election. There are three NA constituencies (NA-52 to NA-54) in Islamabad, two (NA-55 to NA-56) in Attock, seven (NA-57 to NA-63) in Rawalpindi, two (NA-66 to NA-67) in Chakwal and two in Jhelum. About 75 candidates are contesting general elections from Rawalpindi, 21 from Chakwal, 15 from Attock, 24 from Jhelum and 73 from Islamabad for the National Assembly seats.
According to ECP sources, the highest number of independent candidates i.e., 18, are in the field for NA-53, Islamabad-II, including Asif, Asif Fazal Chaudhary, Amjad Masih, Javed Akhtar, Khawaja Khalil ur Rehman, Raja Qadeer Ahmed, Zaib ur Rehman, Syed Amjad Ali Shah, Syed Zafar Ali Shah, Shamakh Hassan Khan, Ghazanfar Mehdi, Muhammad Zafar, Mukdoom Muhammad Niaz Inqlabi, Malik Muhammad Yousaf, Mansoor Akash Randhawa, Nasir Munir Ahmed, Nadeem ul Zafar Khan and Haroon Arshad Sheikh. Similarly, 14 independent candidates namely Usama, Anwar ul Haq, Anwar Khan, Badee ur Rehman, Chan Mehboob Noon, Hamid Shamim, Hafeez ur Rehman, Zubair Farooq Khan, Shamakh Hassan Khan, Shamas ur Rehman, Saima Sheraz, Azeem Khan, Muhammad Munawar and Mewa Khan are contesting from NA-54, Islamabad-III constituency.
Former prime ministers Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and Hanif Abbasi are contesting from different constituencies of Rawalpindi district. About 166 PA candidates are in the field from Rawalpindi, 35 from Chakwal, 37 from Attock and 39 from Jhelum districts of the division. Five provincial assembly constituencies, PP-1 to PP-5 are in Attock district, 15 constituencies, PP-6 to PP-20 are in Rawalpindi district, four constituencies, PP-21 to PP-24 are in Chakwal district while three Jhelum constituencies are from PP-25 to PP-27. Talking to APP, Regional Election Commissioner Majid Sharif Dogar informed that the Election Commission had been finalizing the arrangements for the upcoming general election. Election staff was being imparted training, he added.
