ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has published a list of candidates who have submitted nomination papers for contesting National Assembly constituencies for the 2013 General Election.

The Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) has obtained the data of all aspiring candidates from the ECP website and found out that forty percent male and forty-two percent female candidates are without National Tax Numbers (NTNs), says a press release issued on Tuesday.

The ECP data indicates that only 4,120 candidates (60.4 per cent) possess their NTN certificates, while 2,699 (39.6 per cent) are not registered taxpayers. Gender-wise, 2,599 of 6,581 male candidates (39.5 per cent) and 100 of 238 female candidates (42 per cent) do not have NTN certificates.

The profile of every candidate contains a form from the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), mentioning the National Tax Number (NTN) and the status of the candidate.

According to the ECP’s data, a total of 6,819 candidates are eligible to contest the elections on general National Assembly seats in 272 constituencies.

A total of 3,335 candidates (49 per cent of the total) have filed their candidacy from Punjab, followed by Sindh (1,643 or 24 per cent), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) (870 or 13 per cent), Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) (400 or 6 per cent), Balochistan (378 or 6 per cent), Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) (147 or 2 per cent) and the Frontier Regions (FRs) (46 or 1 per cent).

Out of a total of 6,819 candidates, only 238 (3.5 per cent) are women, while the remaining 6,581 (96.5 per cent) are male candidates.

Out of a total of 6,819 candidates, 4,120 (60.4 per cent) have NTN certificates, while the remaining 2,699 (39.6 per cent) have no NTNs.

Region-wise, FATA has the highest percentage of candidates (259 out of 400, or 65 per cent) having no NTNs, followed by Balochistan (196 out of 378, or 52 per cent), KP (428 out of 870, or 49 per cent), Frontier Regions (20 out of 46, or 44 per cent), Sindh (653 out of 1,643, or 40 per cent), Punjab (1,100 out of 3,335, or 33 per cent) and ICT (43 out of 147, or 29 per cent).

As many as 3,982 (60.5 per cent) male candidates have got their NTN certificates, while the remaining 2,599 (39.5 per cent) do not have NTNs.

Out of the 238 female candidates, 138 (58 per cent) have NTNs, whereas the remaining 100 (42 per cent) have no NTNs.