SWAT: In Swat district, the polling will be held on 3 seats of the National Assembly and 8 seats of the Provincial Assembly, for which a total of 145 candidates are competing. 38 candidates in 3 constituencies of the National Assembly and 107 candidates in 8 provincial seats are trying their luck. District Election Commissioner Swat Faridullah Khattak said that a total of 11,526 polling staff including 2092 presiding officers will serve in 996 polling stations established for the polling.
” A total 14 lac 77 thousand 872 registered voters will exercise their right to vote for three seats of the National Assembly and eight seats of the Provincial Assembly. In which 8 lac 4 thousand 311 male voters and 6 lac 73 thousand 561 female voters will use their vote. According to DPO Swat Shafi Ullah Gandapur, 6,500 policemen have been appointed for the security of 996 polling stations, while a heavy police force will be deployed for patrolling as well. “There are 9 candidates competing in 3 National Assembly constituencies NA-2 of Swat.
There will be a contest between 12 candidates on NA-3 and 20 candidates on NA-4.” Similarly, there are 8 candidates for constituency PK 3, 9 for PK 4, 13 for PK 5, 18 for PK 6, 13 for PK 7, 17 for PK 8, 18 for PK 9 and 11 for PK 10. District Election Commissioner Swat Faridullah Khattak said that three distribution points have been set up at Jahanzeb College Saidu Sharif, Swat University and Afazal Khan Lala College Matta for delivery of polling materials in Swat. From where the polling staff was provided with the polling equipment and they were taken to the polling stations under the supervision of the police and Pakistan Army.
He said that the polling will start at 8 am and will continue till 5 pm without any break, added that for the results, we will install big screens from the three points and publish the results one by one for the convenience of the media and the public. Important political figures are trying their luck on 3 National Assembly seats in Swat district. In Constituency NA-2, PML-N Provincial President Engineer Amir Muqam is in the election contest and he is facing PPP candidate and former MNA Dr Haider Ali, ANP Swat President Mohammad Ayub Khan, PTI supported candidate Dr. Amjad Ali , Naveed Iqbal of Jamaat-e-Islami, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Arshad of JUI and co-chairman of Pakhtunkhwa National Awami Party Mukhtar Khan Yousafzai.
In Constituency NA-3, PPP candidates are Prince Shehryar Amirzeb of the royal family, PTI-backed independent candidate and former MNA Salim-ur-Rehman, ANP’s Dr. Sher Baz Khan, JUI’s Dr. Malik Asghar Khan, Jamaat-e-Islami’s Akhtar Ali Khanji and PML-N’s Wajid Ali Khan will contest. Similarly, former Chief Minister and Vice Chairman PTIP Mehmood Khan is in the field for constituency NA-4 and he is opposed by PTI-supported independent candidate Sohail Sultan Advocate, People’s Party’s Kamal Khan Shama Khel, Jamaat-e-Islami’s former MNA Dr. Fazal Subhan. Brigadier (retd) Muhammad Saleem of ANP, Qari Rahimullah of JUI, while no candidate from PML-N is in the fray for this constituency.
“In the elections to be held in Swat today on February 8, three to four independent candidates are in the field in each constituency due to the unfair distribution of tickets from the PTI.” In comparison to the candidates nominated by the party, candidates have been nominated by the founders and ideological workers of PTI and old and new faces have entered the fray calling the nomination as a choice decision rather than Khan’s decision. The biggest threat may be to former MPA Fazal Hakeem in constituency PK-6. Zahid Khan alias Baz Khan, Saad Khan, Ibrahim Khankhel are in the field against him and they have also asked for votes from the people by chanting the slogan of Imran Khan. Arshad Hussain, a long-time party leader, is in the fray against former minister Dr. Amjad Ali in PK-7. Senior party leader Mohammad Khan Nazarabadi is in the fray against Sohail Sultan Advocate, an imported candidate, in constituency NA-4. Apart from this, there are severe differences in other constituencies and the party candidates can be put in trouble on their own behalf.
