Elections 2024: women emerge as formidable contenders in 60 constituencies

ISLAMABAD: In the 60 general constituencies of the provincial and national assembly, women candidates are seen giving a tough time to their opponents. The Hum Investigation Team (HIT) gathered data which revealed that in 19 general constituencies of the National Assembly and 41 provincial constituencies, women candidates are expected to have a big fight with their opposition candidates.

As many as 34 women could give a tough time to their rival candidates in general seats in Punjab and 17 women in different constituencies of the Sindh Assembly.

As many as seven women are in a tight contest with their opposing candidates in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while women candidates are strong in two constituencies of Balochistan. Some 19 in 2018 and 21 women defeated their opponents in general seats of national and provincial assemblies. It looks like this that more women would win direct seats as compared to the previous two elections.

More than 40 ‘neutral independent candidates’ poise to give tough challenge to rivals

This competition will win more seats as a total of 1257 women are in the field for 855 general seats, official figures revealed. In NA-130 Lahore, Yasmin Rashid is competing with former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, while in NA-119 Lahore, PML-N’s Maryam Nawaz Sharif is competing against Shehzad Farooq.

Thus in NA 158 Wahari Tehmina Daultana is facing Tahir Iqbal Chaudhry while in NA 177 Muzaffargarh Sherbanu Bukhari is facing Moazzam Jatoi. Chaudhry Salik is facing his aunt Qaisra Elahi in NA-64 in Gujrat while in NA 151 Multan Mehrabano Qureshi is facing PPP Ali Musa Gillani. In NA 185 DG Khan Zartaj Gul is facing PPP’s Dost Khosa while in NA 24 Charsadda, Farah Khan is fighting against Anwar Taj. PTI’s backed candidate Shandana Gulzar is competing with Raees Khan in NA 30 Peshawar. PML-N’s Nosheen Iftikhar is competing with Ali Asjad in NA 73 Sialkot while Dr Shizra is competing with Ijaz Shah in NA 112 Nankana Sahib.

In NA-29 Peshawar, Shobia Shahid is up against Arbab Amir and from NA-50 Attock, Eman Tahir is up against Sohail Khan.

Thus Dr Fahmida Mirza and Rasul Bakhsh Chandio are up against each other in N-223 Badin. From NA-209 Sanghar, Shazia Murri is up against Khan Janejo while Dr Nafisa Shah from NA 202 Khairpur is contesting against Ghaos Ali Shah. Rehana Dar is up against Khawaja Asif in NA 71 Sia Lakot. Other top contenders are Ghulam Bibi Bharwana, Zubaidah Jalal, Kanwal Shuzab, Ambar Majeed, Rozeena Bhutto, Sabeen Safdar, Ayesha Jutt, Sidra Faisal, Alia Hamza, Rashida Tariq, Seemabia Tariq, Saira Bano, Dr. Faryal Talpur, Rahila Magsi, Dr. Ezra Fazal, Samar Haroon, Sawira Prakash, Samira Malik, Firdous Ashiq Awan, Meena Khan, Saleem Bibi Bharwana, Saira Afzal Tarr and some other women have also advanced in this competition.