LAHORE, July 8:
Religious parties in Pakistan, including the banned Jamaat-ud Dawa’s political wing, have fielded more than 460 candidates on the National Assembly seats for the July 25 general elections, breaking all previous records, a media report said today.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has issued the final list of candidates, according to which, 3,459 candidates will contest on 272 general seats of the National Assembly.
Although Jamaat-e-Islami had come up with a long list of candidates in 1970 against the then nominees of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s Awami League in East (Bangladesh) and West Pakistan, and Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) had also fielded candidates across the country in 2002, the number stands the highest this time, The Nation reported.
Over 460 aspirants have been fielded separately by MMA, Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, Hafiz Saeed-led JuD’s political wing Milli Muslim League-backed Allah-o-Akbar Tehreek and other small entities, the paper said.
These candidates might play a decisive role in the victory and defeat of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) and PPP candidates on a number of seats.
The results would show total religious vote bank in Pakistan besides clearly narrating the number of well wishers of each party, defining its political weight and putting it at a bargaining position with mainstream political parties in future elections, the paper said.
The MMA, an alliance of five parties — Jamiat Ulema-e Islam-F (JUI-F), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP), Islami Tehreek and Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith — representing all schools of thought (Barelvi, Deobani, Shia and Ahle Hadith), has come up with a list of some 192 plus candidates on NA seats, mainly focusing on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan, the paper said. (PTI)
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