59 parties didn't issue tickets to women candidates, ECP reveals

ISLAMABAD: The scrutiny process for political parties and candidates in the elections 2018 appear to be more thorough than ever. The Election Commission of Pakistan on Friday released details of political parties contesting July 25 elections and a percentage of tickets they’ve allocate to women candidates.

According to the ECP, 59 political parties have not considered women for general seat tickets. Whereas, a total of 304 women in total have been given tickets by 48 parties.

The Peoples Party Pakistan (PPP) was the only party that allocated the highest percentage of its total tickets to women compared to others, which is 43.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has issued 37, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) 42, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) 6, All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) 8, Awami National Party (ANP) 14, Balochistan National Party (BNP) 3, BNP-Awami 2, Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) 8, and the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) 33 general seat tickets to women.

The list shows that four parties namely Allah Akbar Tehreek, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Samiul Haq (JUI-S), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Nazriati (PTI Ideological), and Pasban Pakistan failed to meet the required criteria of allocating five percent of the tickets to women.

Meanwhile, a recent report released by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) revealed that around 30 per cent candidates for the National Assembly are not registered as taxpayers with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

The report highlights that 5,806 candidates for the NA seats were scrutinized by the FBR as mentioned on the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) website.

Fafen says that 88 candidates are dual nationals as per the FIA.

Furthermore, 115 candidates for 105 general seats, eight for women reserved seats and one for minority reserved seat acquired bank loans, which are either overdue or have been written off.