PESHAWAR: The religious minorities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) seem less interested in the Local Government (LG) elections as only 364 candidates have submitted nomination papers for 2,382 reserved seats.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said that about 2,018 seats of religious minorities will be lying vacant on which by-election will be held after the completion of local government election process. However, huge number of nomination papers has been submitted for women and youth reserved seats.
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The list released by the ECP said that just 364 nomination papers have been submitted for a total of 2,382 reserved seats in the province while in Peshawar, 148 papers were filed for 357 minority seats, 23 candidates are running for 146 seats in Nowshera, 10 for 153 seats in Charsadda, 23 for 147 seats in Khyber, 4 for 65 seats in Mohmand, 22 candidates are vying on 231 seats in Mardan, 2 for 160 seats in Swabi, 18 for 107 seats in Kohat, 2 on 61 seats in Karak, 16 for 62 seats in Hangu, 15 nomination papers have been filed for 116 seats in Bannu, 6 for 78 seats DI Khan, 11 for 180 seats in Haripur, 3 for 127 seats in Bajaur and 30 for 105 seats in Buner.
Similarly, for the 2,382 seats reserved for youth for 6,745 nomination papers have been submitted while for 2,382 seats reserved for women, a total of 4,214 candidates have submitted their nomination papers.
Special Assistant to chief minister for religious minorities Wazirzada said that the minorities are often reside in constituencies where their votes are not registered. Therefore, they could not submit nomination papers for reserve seats. He said that most of in most of the constituencies, the candidates would be elected without any contest.
When contacted the KP election commissioner spokesmen Sohail Ahmed said that according to the schedule issued by the Election Commission, the process of nomination papers has been completed. He said that by-election will be conducted on the seats for which no nomination papers have not been submitted.