Pakistan’s top electoral authority announced here on Tuesday that as many as 28,626 candidates, including 3,139 women, had submitted their nominations to run in Pakistan’s general elections for the 16th National Assembly and four provincial legislatures on February 8.

The 2024 general elections in Pakistan had entered the next phase after the extended deadline for submitting nomination papers related to the upcoming general elections ended on Sunday evening.

As per the information released by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), 7,713 candidates—including 471 women—have submitted nominations to compete for 266 general seats in the National Assembly in the 2018 elections.

Pakistan’s first hindu candidate amongst many women participants

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), at least 1,322 candidates, including 39 women, that is first ever in the history, are running for 45 general seats in the National Assembly.

A Hindu woman from the Buner area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has filed her nomination papers for a general seat in the next Pakistani elections.

Official nomination papers for Saveera Parkash’s candidacy for the general seat of PK-25 in the Buner district have been received.

According to the ECP data, 3,139 women—or more than 11% of the 28,626 candidates nationwide—have submitted nomination papers for the general elections of 2024. This is a significantly higher number of women than done so for the general elections of 2018 and 2013.

Up to 471 women, including Maryam Nawaz, submitted nomination papers to run for general assembly seats in the National Assembly, and 802 more women are running for seats in the provincial assemblies.

Who are the high profile candidates contesting elections in Pakistan?

On Sunday, a number of political figures presented their candidacy papers, including Sheikh Ansar Aziz, Pir Adil Gillani, Tariq Fazal Chaudhary of the PML-N, Zeeshan Naqvi, the former deputy mayor of the federal capital, and Chaudhry Riffat Javed.

Numerous prominent politicians have already submitted their forms, including the imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan, the three-time former premier Nawaz Sharif, the former president Asif Ali Zardari, the former prime ministers Yusuf Raza Gilani, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, and Shehbaz Sharif, among many other significant figures.

As of now, Khan has submitted applications from two Lahore seats as well as his hometown of Mianwali.

But because of his conviction for unlawfully selling official gifts in the Toshakhana corruption case, he has little prospect of receiving permission to run for office.

How Hafiz Saeed is contesting Elections?

The mastermind of the Mumbai terror attack and a UN-designated terrorist, Hafiz Saeed, will participate obliquely in the general elections in Pakistan in February of next year. Every national and provincial legislature seat has a candidate from the Saeed-backed Pakistan Markazi Muslim League. In addition, Talha Saeed, Hafiz’s son, is a candidate for the NA-127, Lahore, and National Assembly seat.

Hafiz Saeed, the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), has been imprisoned since 2019 on several terror-related crimes. Hafiz also served as the mastermind behind the horrible 26/11 Mumbai Terror Attack, which claimed 166 lives.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), and other local parties are competing in the election as major parties.

The reviewing of Documents

In addition to carefully reviewing the documents, the ECP officials are taking objections to the nominations. The procedure of fact checking nomination details will run through December 30.

By January 3, appeals concerning the acceptance or rejection of nomination papers may be filed, and by January 10, decisions regarding these appeals will be rendered.

On January 11, the ECP will release the list of applicants. The candidates may withdraw up until January 12, one day prior to the Commission’s January 13 allocation of electoral representations.

There is a wave of terrorism in the economically broken country and there are definite forces that would disrupt the elections. However, as certain as the government is to conduct the elections, it also confirms all efforts to protect the lives of people battling with severe inflation and standard of living problems.