Electoral Momentum

The election process is steadily gaining steam nationwide along with the issuance of the final lists of candidates and allotment of poll symbols to all the contestants under the first-past-the-post (FPTP) category. Elections to the House of Representatives (HoR) and Provincial Assemblies slated for November 20 will elect a total of 275 members of the HoR and 500 members of the provincial legislatures in all seven provinces under both the FPTP and the proportional representation (PR) categories. As per the revised lists of candidates brought out by the Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday, altogether 2,412 (2,187 male and 225 female) aspirants are vying for 165 seats of HoR while a total of 3,224 nominees (2,943 male, 280 female and one third gender) are contesting for 330 seats of provincial legislatures under the FPTP category. The election body has removed the names of 119 and 257 candidates registered for HoR and provincial legislatures, respectively. That figure includes both the contestants who withdrew their candidacies and those whose nominations were cancelled on legal grounds.