In the upcoming general election scheduled for February 8, a total of 934 candidates are contesting for 13 National Assembly and 26 Punjab Assembly seats of Rawalpindi Division.
According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) approximately 729,617 voters will use their right to franchise in electing 93 representatives for both national and provincial assemblies.
Several prominent political figures, including Speaker National Assembly Raja Pervez Ashraf, former Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, former Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Sheikh Aftab Ahmed, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed, and Haneef Abbasi, are among the seasoned politicians vying for seats in the assemblies.
According to available data, 284 candidates from various political parties, including independents, are contesting for the 13 seats in the National Assembly.
Meanwhile, for the 26 constituencies of the Punjab Assembly, 650 candidates are competing to represent these constituents in the assembly.
The Attock district, with 1349,040 voters, will elect representatives for 2 seats in the National Assembly and 5 seats in the Punjab Assembly.
For NA-49 Attock-I, 14 candidates are contesting, and 20 candidates are competing for NA-50 Attock-II. Similarly, there are 16 candidates for PP1 Attock, 17 for PP2 Attock-II, 15 for PP3 Attock-III, 17 for PP4 Attock IV, and 14 for PP5 Attock-V.
In the Murree district, 295,163 voters will elect representatives for one constituency in the National Assembly and two constituencies in the Provincial Assembly. For NA-51 Murree, 27 candidates are in contention, and there are 32 candidates for PP6 Murree and 23 for PP7 Kahuta.
Rawalpindi district, with 3,378,500 voters, will elect representatives for 6 seats in the National Assembly and 12 seats in the Punjab Assembly.
In Chakwal district, 771,916 voters will elect representatives for one seat in the National Assembly and 2 seats in the Provincial Assembly. For NA-58 Chakwal, 21 candidates are contesting, along with 21 for PP20 Chakwal and 11 for PP21 Chakwal.
Talagang district, with 429,923 voters, will elect representatives for one seat in the National Assembly and 2 seats in the Provincial Assembly. Jhelum district, with 1,056,480 voters, will elect representatives for 2 seats in the National Assembly and 3 seats in the Punjab Assembly.
For NA-60 Jhelum, 18 candidates are in the running, and 13 candidates are contesting for NA-61 Jhelum II, while there are 30 candidates for PP24 Jhelum, 24 for PP25 Jhelum, and 21 for PP26 Jhelum.
Several candidates from different constituencies of the National Assembly have served multiple terms. For instance, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan is running as an independent candidate from NA-53 and NA-54. Additionally, members like Former federal minister Sheikh Aftab from Attock and Major (retd) Tahir Iqbal from Chakwal have been members of the National Assembly more than once.
Other notable candidates who have been members of the National Assembly more than once include Ayaz Amir from NA-58 Chakwal, Chaudhry Farrukh Altaf from NA-61 Jhelum, Malik Sohail from NA-50 Attock, and Iman Tahir.—APP
