As many as 28,626 candidates, including 3,139 women, have filed their nominations to contest the February 8 general elections in Pakistan to the National Assembly and four provincial legislatures, the country’s top electoral body said here on Tuesday. The election will be held for 1,085 general and reserved seats of the national and provincial assemblies. Of the total 1,085 seats, there are 336 National Assembly (NA) seats — 226 general and 70 reserved for women (60) and non-Muslims (10); and 749 provincial assembly seats — 593 general and 156 reserved for women (132) and minorities (24).

Punjab province has 371 seats, including 297 general, 66 reserved for women and 8 for minorities. Sindh has 168 seats, including 130 general, 29 reserved for women and 9 for minorities. Khyber Pakhtun­khwa has 145 seats, including 115 general, 26 reserved for women and 4 for minorities; and Balochistan province has 65 seats, including 51 general, 11 reserved for women and 3 for minorities.

According to the details shared by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the aspirants include 7,713 candidates, including 471 women, who have filed nominations to contest the upcoming elections on 266 general seats of the National Assembly. In Punjab, 3,871 candidates, including 277 women, filed nomination papers for 141 NA seats, while 1,681 candidates, including 110 women, submitted nominations for 61 NA seats in Sindh. At least 1,322 candidates, including 39 women, are contesting for 45 general seats in the National Assembly in Khyber Pakhtun­khwa (KP) while 631 nominees, including 12 women, filed nomination papers against 16 NA seats in Balochistan. As many as 208 candidates, including 26 women, submitted nominations for three National Assembly seats in the federal capital. About 459 candidates filed nomination papers against 60 reserved seats for women in the National Assembly, including 195 from Punjab, 118 from Sindh, 97 from KP, and 49 from Balochistan. Also, 150 nominations, including 10 women, filed nominations against 10 reserved seats for non-Muslims in the National Assembly.

Both women and non-Muslims can also contest on all 266 general seats apart from participating on the 60 and 10 seats reserved for them respectively. When it comes to the provincial assembly, at least 18,546 candidates, including 802 women, submitted their nominations for 593 general seats of the four provincial assemblies.

For Punjab Assembly’s 297 general seats, 9,029 candidates have filed nominations, including 437 women. Another 4,265 candidates, including 205 women, filed nominations against 130 general seats of the Sindh Assembly, while 3,464 candidates, including 115 women, filed papers for 115 general seats of the KP Assembly and 1,788 candidates, including 45 women, submitted documents for 45 general seats of the Balochistan Assembly.

Also, 1,365 candidates are in the run for 132 reserved seats for women in the four provincial legislatures. They include 601 against 66 seats in Punjab, 309 for 29 seats in Sindh, 321 for 26 seats in KP, and 134 against 11 seats in Balochistan. As many as 393 candidates, including 32 women, filed nominations against 24 seats reserved for minorities in provincial assemblies. The ECP data showed that 3,139 women (over 11 per cent) of the total 28,626 candidates have filed nomination papers for 2024 general elections across the country, far more than the number of women who submitted nominations for the 2018 and 2013 general elections. As many as 471 women, including Maryam Nawaz, filed nomination papers to contest elections on general seats of the National Assembly, while another 802 women are contesting on the provincial assemblies’ seats.

For the seats reserved for women in national and provincial assemblies, 459 and 1,365 nomination papers were filed, respectively. Ten women have filed nominations for seats reserved for minorities in the National Assembly. A total of 32 nominations have been filed for the provincial seats reserved for minorities. The number of women candidates went up as compared to the last two elections as 1,687 women had filed nomination papers in the 2018 general elections while a total of 1,171 women in the 2013 elections.