Tough Contest Expected In NA-101

National Assembly's constituency NA-101 (Faisalabad-1), old NA-75 constituency, is ready for a tough contest. Candidates are trying hard to reach out to voters as July-25 Election Day draws nearer.

FAISALABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st Jul, 2018 ) :National Assembly's constituency NA-101 (Faisalabad-1), old NA-75 constituency, is ready for a tough contest. Candidates are trying hard to reach out to voters as July-25 Election Day draws nearer.

According to a spokesman for the Elections Commission of Pakistan (ECP), there are total 459,268 registered voters in the constituency including 257,320 male and 201,948 female voters.

In this constituency, 360 polling stations have been set up including 124 for males, 118 for females and 118 combined stations, while 1,016 polling booths including 558 for males and 458 for females have also been established.

He said that 360 presiding officers, 2,032 assistant presiding officers and 1,016 polling officers will perform their duties on the Election Day.

He said that 86 polling stations of the constituency had been declared sensitive where CCTV cameras would also be installed.

As many as 14 candidates including a woman are in the run for the NA seat, while 34 aspirants are contesting for two Punjab Assembly seats, falling under this constituency including PP-97 and PP-98.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has not fielded any candidate in this constituency as it is supporting an independent Muhammad Asim Nazeer, who was elected as an MNA from the old constituency NA-77 on the PML-N ticket in 2013.

Asim Nazeer is from Arain biradari and his elder brother Chaudhry Zahid Nazeer was elected as chairman District Council on the PML-N ticket.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has fielded Zafar Zulqarnain Sahi from Jaat biradari in this constituency. In 2013 elections, PTI candidate Zafar Zulqarnain's father, Ghulam Rasool Sahi, won the old NA-75 seat and the PML-N candidate with 130,300 votes beat PTI's Fawad Ahmad Cheema, who had got 49,131 votes.

Fawad Cheema ,who was earlier affiliated with the PTI, is now contesting as an independent candidate, while Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) has fielded a woman candidate Afifa Siddiqui.

Other candidates include former MNA Tariq Mahmood Bajwa of Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarians, Iftikhar Ali of Tehreek-e-Labbiak Pakistan (TLP), Sajjad Ahmad of All Pakistan Muslim League (APML), Imdad Ali of Allah-o-Akbar Tehreek, Ashfaq Ahmad of Tehreek-e-Labiak islam (TLI), while six other independent candidates are also contesting the election from this constituency.

For PP-97, thirteen candidates are in the run. The PML-N has fielded former MPA Azad Ali Tabassum, PTI gave ticket to Ali Afzal Sahi, son of Mohammad Afzal Sahi, a PTI candidate in PP-97, Tariq Mahmood Bajwa of the PPPP, Mohammad Afzal of TLP, Mohammad Riaz of Pak-Sarzeen Party, Mohammad Mukhtar of MMA, and Muhammad Imran of Allah-o-Akbar, while six independent candidates are also in the run.

For PP-98, twenty-one candidates are contesting the election.

The PML-N has fielded former MPA Mohammad Shoaib Idrees, PTI's former speaker Punjab Assembly Mohammad Afzal Sahi, Mohammad Azeem Aslam of the PPPP, Mohammad Akram of TLP, Javed of Allah-o-Akbar and Muhammad Adil of Pakistan Sunni Tehreek while 15 independent candidates are also in the field.

PTI has awarded tickets for National Assembly constituency and attached PP Constituencies to the Sahi family who have changed their affiliation from PML-N to PTI about two months ago.

Mohammad Afzal Sahi got ticket from PP-97, his son Ali Afzal Sahi from PP-98 and nephew Zafar Zulqarnain Sahi from NA-101.

The NA-101 constituency mainly consists of tehsil Chak Jhumra and Khurarianwala area and the biradaris living there include Jaat, Rajput and Arain.

Although the PPP, TLP and MMA have fielded candidates in this constituency, according to a survey, a tough fight is expected between PTI's Zafar Zulqarnain Sahi and independent candidateMuhammad Asim Nazeer.