RAWALPINDI: For the third time, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) fielded a female candidate in the city area constituency, NA-56, while PTI also nominated a woman candidate for NA-57, former prime minister Imran Khan’s constituency in 2013.

PPP veteran Sumera Gul will face PML-N’s Daniyal Chaudhry, PTI’s Shaheryar Riaz, and Sheikh Rashid Ahmed in NA-56 on Feb 8. The PPP also gave her a chance in the 2018 elections but she got only 5,583 votes while her opponent PML-N Daniyal Chaudhry got 91,000 votes and PTI-backed Sheikh Rashid Ahmed got 117,719 votes.

In the 1997 elections, PPP nominated Naheed Khan, a close aide of former prime minister and PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto, but she failed to defeat then PML-N candidate Sheikh Rashid Ahmed. But, Naheed Khan gave a tough time to Sheikh Rashid.

On the other hand, the PTI nominated Seemabia Tahir for NA-57, a constituency won by Imran Khan in the 2013 elections. She was in the Punjab Assembly on a reserved seat in 2018 assembly. After Sadaqat Abbasi parted ways with the PTI in light of the May violence, Seemabia Tahir was elevated to PTI Punjab North President.

This is the second time that the PTI has fielded a woman candidate. In 2013, Hina Manzoor contested polls from Cantonment but was defeated by PML-N’s Malik Abrar Ahmed. Ms Manzoor got 68,473 votes from NA-55, Malik Abrar got 76,255, and PPP’s Zamrud Khan got 13,166.

A senior PTI leader told Dawn that the PTI wanted to teach a lesson to ‘turncoats’ who changed their loyalties at a time when the former ruling party was facing the brunt of the May 9 events.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2024