ISLAMABAD: What started with over 28,000 aspirants submitting their nomination papers to contest general elections, has been reduced to around 18,000 who would find their names on the ballot papers on Feb 8.

According to the statistics shared by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), 17,816 candidates will be contesting the elections for national and provincial assemblies.

This tally included 16,930 males, 882 females and four transgenders. Of them, 6,031 candidates have been fielded by political parties, including 5,756 males and 275 females, while 11,785 independent candidates include 11,174 males, 607 women and four transgenders.

In all, 5,121 candidates are in the race for 266 general seats of the National Assembly, including 4,807 males, 312 females and two transgenders.

Political parties, excluding PTI, have fielded 1,873 candidates, including 1,780 males and 93 females, for the NA seats. The total number of independents vying for NA seats is 3,248. They include 3,027 males, 219 females and two transgenders.

As per ECP numbers, 882 women, four transgenders are in the race

A total of 12,695 candidates will be in the ring for provincial assemblies’ seats. They include 12,123 males, 570 females and two transgenders — both independent candidates from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The breakdown for provincial assemblies shows 6,710 candidates in the run for the Punjab Assembly, 3,878 for the Sindh Assembly, 1,834 for the KP Assembly and 1,273 for the Balochistan Assembly.

The total number of candidates fielded by political parties for provincial assemblies is 4,158, including 3,976 males and 182 females.

The total number of independent candidates for the provincial assemblies is 8,537 — more than double the candidates fielded by political parties. They include 4,838 for Punjab, 1,929 for Sindh, 1,033 for KP and 739 for Balochistan.

Though the ECP has released statistics of the contesting candidates, it is yet to issue the final list of candidates days after the process for printing ballot papers got underway.

Published in Dawn, January 20th, 2024