ISLAMABAD: Unlike previous elections Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) has decided to contest elections on its own symbol --weighing scale -- without entering into any alliance and has fielded candidates in all the three constituencies of the federal capital.

As the Muttahida Majlis-i- Amal (MMA) was revived ahead of the 2018 election, JI was part of the alliance that included almost all the religo-political parties belonging to Shia, Barelvi and the Deobandi schools of thought.

The JI has decided that it will not enter into electoral alliance with any party in the forthcoming election.

However, the new entrant into politics at that time was the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) which entered the polls independently.

For the upcoming elections Naib Emir Mian Mohammad Aslam will be contesting from NA-46.

The constituency NA-46 starts from the Islamabad limits at Tarnol and it includes Golra Sharif, and the urban sectors up to Islamabad Expressway including I-8 to I-11 and E-8 up to E-11 and F-8 to F-11, G-8 to G-11, etc.

Mian Aslam was elected MNA from the same constituency in 2002 from the platform of MMA, by defeating Barrister Babar Awan of Pakistan People’s Party, Ahmed Raza Kasuri of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Syed Zafar Ali Shah of the PML-N.

Mian Aslam is striving to contest the elections backed by his influence among the local religious circles as well as developing a considerable goodwill among the non-Muslim voters residing in Islamabad.

The JI candidate for NA-47 is Kashif Chaudhry, who is a local business leader and was previously in Shabab-i-Milli of Jamaat-i-Islami, while the JI candidate from NA-48 is Malik Abdul Aziz.

He is participating in the election for the first time.

The TLP candidates for Islamabad are all relatively new entrant. Sajid Mehmood is contesting from NA-46, and in the last elections the TLP candidate obtained 3,641votes from this constituency that was NA-54.

The TLP candidate from NA-47 is Hafiz Khawar Ikhlas, and in the 2018 elections when the same area was in constituency NA-53 the TLP candidate Muhammad Afnan Baloch obtained 5,147 votes.

In the last constituency of Islamabad NA-48, the TLP candidate is Chaudhary Azhar Mahmood, whereas the party candidate was Rizwan Ahmed in 2018 elections when the constituency was NA-52 by getting 11,996 votes.

The TLP chief Hafiz Saad Rizvi has announced to contest elections from NA-50, his home district Attock.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2024