Poll contestants to be finalized today
By Saad Saud

ISLAMABAD—As Election day nears, candidates not aspiring to contest polls, would be withdrawing their candidature on Saturday.
More than 13,000 candidates filed their nomination papersduring November 20-26 for the National Assembly and ProvincialAssemblies, the first phase of Election 2008 after the schedule was announced.
Nomination papers of a few candidates were rejected duringscrutiny by the Returning Officers and those who want to withdraw from the race will be quitting on December 15, the withdrawal date.
On December 16, the Election Commission would be publishingthe final list of the contesting candidates although the quitting continues till the last day.
Lot of activity continues by candidates even after withdrawal, to win the support of their fellow contestants by influencing them at the level of clan and bradari.
There have been scattered incidents of forgoing the party tickets by certain candidates due to local level differences as no major upset was witnessed for any party as predicted by some analysts. People were foreseeing major defection in PML(Q) after return of Sharif brothers and decision to participate in election. The PML(N) dissociated from the APDM and said, their boycotting the election would be futile when other major parties were in the run. It is expected that a marathon election campaign would kick off once the candidature becomes clear and contestants come to know who is taking on whom.
Amidst repeated fears by the PPPP leadership, electioneeringgoes on and all parties have tightened their belt to go for pollswith full might. Even PPPP is participating fully and their leader Benazir Bhutto is visiting different parts of country to motivate voters.
With most of candidates already campaigning in theirrespective constituencies, the political parties are now schedulingthe visits of their stalwarts to different areas across the country.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission has made all outarrangements for holding election in a free, fair and transparent manner.
Lot of new measures have been taken this time includingpreparation of Computerized Electoral Rolls, transparent ballotboxes, polling screens, guide booklet for polling agents, training of election staff and orientation of the DROs and ROs.
The Election Commission website also contains all information regarding elections with the electoral rolls to be posted there within the next few days.
Every possible effort has been made to make the polls error free and allay the fears of rigging.
Just 25 days far, it is hoped that election is conducted safely and the nations peacefully bring this process to culmination by January 09 when hopefully the results would have been fully compiled.
As many as 17 candidates of Jamaat-e-Islami(JI) here, in line with the party’s decision to boycott the general elections, withdrew their nomination papers on Friday. Those who withdrew their papers include: Hameed ul-Din Awan from NA-95 and NA-96, Shabir Ahmed Abbasi from NA-97, Azhar Iqbal Ahsan NA-98, Bilal Qudrat Butt and Khalid Mahmood Chahl from NA-101.
The nomination papers drawn from constituencies of provincial assembly include: Hameed-ud-Din Awan from PP-91,92 and PP-94, Saeed Khokhar PP-92, Idrees Ayub Shaikh from PP-93 and PP-94, Shahid Munir Gondal PP-93, Asad Cheema PP-96, Tariq Shaikh and Imran Chaudhery PP-97, Khalid Chahl PP-98, Tasneemullah Mughal PP-99, Abdul Hameed Goraya PP-100, Masood Khokhar PP-101, Tahir Shah PP-104.
Pakistan Muslim League (Q), Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarian (PPPP) and Pakistan Muslim League (N) have announced their party tickets for candidates of two national assembly and five provincial assembly seats of district Abbottabad.
The decision of PML (N) tickets was made after meeting of the party ranks.
The meeting headed by Nawaz Sharif decided about the tickets. PML (N) has pitched former Chief Minister and sitting Senator Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan from NA-17 as well as PF-45, Murtaza Javed Abbassi has been awarded ticket from NA-18, Innayatullah Khan from Provincial assembly constituency PF-44, Ayub Afridi from PF-46, Aurangezeb Nalotha from PF-47 and Javed Abbassi from PF-48.
PML (Q) awarded its ticket to old faces which included Former Minister for Petroleum Ammanullah Khan Jadoon from NA-17, Former Deputy Speaker National Assembly Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob from NA-18, Former MPA Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani from PF-44, Pir Azhar Bakoti from PF-45, Qalandar Khan Lodhi from PF-46.