JAVED KHAN
PESHAWAR: The forthcoming general elections is witnessing high representation of women in Peshawar with 18 female candidates in the fray out of total 347 as nearly all major political parties have fielded women to contest on general seats.
For the first time in the parliamentary history of the provincial capital 18 women will contest elections on general seats for the five National Assembly and 13 Provincial Assembly seats.
The Pakistan People Party and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz have each fielded one female candidate on National Assembly seats from the provincial capital. The Awami National Party has allocated one ticket each to female candidates on both National Assembly and Provincial Assembly seats.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, currently contesting independently, has also fielded two female candidates, one each for National Assembly and Provincial Assembly seats.
Similarly, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Parliamentarians have awarded one ticket to a female candidate for a Provincial Assembly seat from the district.
Bushra is contesting election as independent candidate from PK-73, Rukhma Sahar and Shazia Aziz from PK-79, Nazish Ali Awan and Noreen Arif from PK-81 constituency and Afshan Afridi is contesting as independent candidate from PK-82, Shakira Gul will contest election from PK-79 and Shumila Tabasum will contest from PK-82 as an independent candidate.
It is pertinent to mention here that Shakira Gul and Noreen Arif are the nominated candidates of PTI but contesting elections as independent candidates.
Likewise, Samreen Rasheed is the contender on Pakistan Markazi Muslim League ticket for PK-75, Sobia Shahid is the ticket holder of PML-N for PK-76, Somi Falak Naz, is the candidate of PTI-P for PK-76, Sameen Gul of Tehreek Jawanan Pakistan is contender for PK-81, and Samar Haroon Bilour, an ANP candidate from PK-83.
Jamat-i-Islami ,Jamiat Ulema Islam Fazal and Quwmi Watan Party have not fielded any women on general seats in the provincial metropolis.
In the 2018 by-election, Samar Haroon Bilour was fielded by ANP to run for PK-78. The constituency was left uncontested by the ECP after the death of Haroon Bilour along with 22 other in a suicide attack days before the July 25 general elections.
Samar won the constituency in the by-election by securing 20,916 votes by defeating Muhammad Irfan of PTI who got 16,819 votes. She was the first female elected lawmaker from Peshawar.
Similarly, three women candidates are contesting elections from Peshawar on National Assembly Seats. Sobia Shahid is contesting election as a PML-N candidate from NA-31 and NA-29, Basmida, a nominee of the Pakistan Markazi Muslim League from NA-30 and Shandana Gulzar Khan of PTI contesting election as an independent candidate from NA-30 constituency.
Shandana Gulzar is the daughter of a former bureaucrat Gulzar Khan who was elected MNA on the PTI ticket in 2013 general elections from the then NA-4, now NA-27 constituency of Peshawar.
Shandana was elected to the National Assembly as candidate of PTI on a reserve seat for women from Peshawar in 2018 general election and served as federal parliamentary secretary for commerce.
No woman got a ticket from political parties or from contesting elections as independent candidates for Provincial Assembly constituencies including PK-72, PK-74, PK-77, PK-78, PK-80, and PK-84.
Similarly, there is no woman contender from NA-28 and NA-32 constituencies of Peshawar for the upcoming general elections. Comparatively, in the general elections of 2002, almost all political parties have failed to award a single ticket to women on general seats for the Provincial Assembly from Peshawar. Only one female candidate received a ticket for a National Assembly seat from the Pakistan Watan Party.
Similarly, in the general elections of 2013, out of 275 candidates, only six independent female candidates contested from Peshawar for National and Provincial Assembly general seats.
In this election, no political party granted tickets to female candidates for either National Assembly or Provincial Assembly seats.
In the most recent general elections held in 2018, 201 candidates participated in the electoral process from the district Peshawar. Notably, only four candidates, three independents and one female candidate on a PPP ticket, were women.
All political parties opted to allocate tickets exclusively to male candidates for Provincial Assembly general seats.
The Election Act of 2017 plays a pivotal role in promoting gender inclusivity, criminalizing any efforts to impede women’s participation in elections.
The act also mandates political parties to ensure a minimum of 5 percent of their candidates contesting for general seats are women.
However, for the upcoming general elections, a positive shift is observed with 14 women contesting for Provincial Assembly seats and four women vying for National Assembly seats in the provincial capital. It is noteworthy that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is yet to issue the final list of female candidates on general seats for KP.
The electoral watchdog has urged political parties to submit their candidate lists within five days, ensuring that at least 5 percent of women candidates are allocated general seats, as mandated by Section 206 of the Election Act, 2017.
“The political parties, having been allocated election symbols for the general election in 2014, are required to ensure 5 percent representation of women candidates on general seats under the provision of Section 206 of the Election Act 2017,” stated the ECP, emphasizing the importance of gender diversity in the political landscape.
In Peshawar, 2.26 million people are expected to participate in the upcoming general elections, as per the statistics of ECP.
Of these registered voters, 1.12 million are male and 0.90 million are female. KP has 11 million males and nine million females registered voters, as per ECP.
