ominally, parliamentarians elected against the reserved seats are spared the effort associated with a direct election. They do not need to go door to door or hold corner meetings. Does this make their job, before and after the polls, easier? Far from it.

The women elected on the reserved seats are often expected to play the second fiddle to their colleagues elected against general seats. Some of them seek the limelight by being unnecessarily aggressive and making their presence felt by defending top leaders in all kinds of situations. Lacking territorial constituencies, they also bear the burden of representing every one. Critics from the rival parties and the media also find them an easy target.

The number of seats reserved for women was increased in the reform package introduced by Gen Pervez Musharraf ahead of the 2002 elections. However, the mechanism for their election has been criticized by various quarters not least because it fails genuine representation. Given that the political parties get to draw the lists from which these members enter the assemblies, party leaders can act quite arbitrarily particularly since there is no input or feedback from the ordinary voters.

It has been alleged that leaders of mainstream political parties have been nominating women from elite families, including the politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen while ignoring genuine workers in their own parties, particularly from the low- and middle-income classed. The mechanism tends to aggravate elite capture of the political space.

The reserved seats are allocated on the basis of number of general seats won by a party. For candidates heading the lists provided to the election commission by their parties, election is a near certainty. The chances of those lower down the lists depend upon the parties’ performance on the general seats.

The women workers aspiring for reserved seat nominations have to be on the forefront of all party activities, both in and outside the parliament. When protests are called, they often have to brave the police batons and teargas. Worse, they also have to face public wrath when the party leaders do something unpopular. In the assemblies, they are expected to be always on their toes and give a tough time to the opponents.

Asked what she thought made the job worth the effort and the hazards, a woman legislator choosing not to be named, said “it is part of the politics. That’s how it’s done here.” She defended her colleagues who avoid rough exchanges in the assemblies or streets protests but added that “someone or the other from among us have to do it, whether we like it or not.”

Sometimes the enthusiasm risks making one look ridiculous. In recent past, PTI’s Zartaj Gul faced media criticism and online ridicule for her exaggerated praise for Imran Khan, particularly after linking ample rainfall in the country to Imran’s piety and honesty.

In the provincial assembly of the Punjab in the 2013-2018 term, a handful of PML-Q members on reserved seats kept the Shahbaz Sharif government on the defensive in the legislature even after most of their general seats colleagues had formed a forward bloc and joined hands with the government. They included Khadija Umar, Samina Khawar Hayat and Seemal Kamran. It can be argued that the party did not reward or adequately acknowledge their efforts.

Dr Yasmin Rashed, the PTI Punjab leader is a leading exception. She has not only been consistently fielded in general elections but also included in the cabinet where she served with distinction. Considering the PTI members will be consisting the February polls as independents, the chances of the party’s reserved seats legislators look bleak.

This will allow PTI’s main rivals, the PML-N and the PPP to bag more seats from those reserved for women and minorities.

The PML-N’s priority list of 58 women candidates from the Punjab includes party leaders like Tahira Aurangzeb, her daughter Marriyum Aurengzeb, Shaista Pervaiz Malik, Punjab chapter information secretary Azma Zahid Bukhari, Nuzhat Sadiq, Musarrat Asif, Seema Jilani, Shazia Khawaja, Robina Khursheed, Wajiha Qamar, Zeb Jaffar, Kiran Dar, Anusha Rehman, Tahira Wudood, Afia Naz, Saba Sadiq, Farah Naz, Shehnaz Salim, Muneeba Iqbal, Iffat Naeem, Zakia Khan, Ishrat Ashraf, Tehmina Daultana, Hina Parvez Butt, Saima Saadia, Rahila Khadim, Uzma Kardar and Tamkeen Akhtar.

Many of the people on the PML-N list have already figured in the assemblies. The PML-N, which is eyeing a larger number of seats reserved for women due to the absence of the PTI has included former PTI members Sania Ashiq Jabeen and Uzma Kardar in its priority list, preferring them over some of its own long standing workers.

Sania Ashiq Jabeen, once an important part of the PTI’s social media team, quit the party and has joined the PML-N where she also oversees party’s social media affairs. Uzma Kardar, too, used to be an important parliamentarian in the PTI government of the Punjab. However, she later developed differences with the party leadership over her support for the Jahangir Tareen group. She was later suspended and eventually quit the party.

PML-N stalwart Tehmina Daultana has been nominated against a reserved seat in the provincial assembly besides contesting her ancestral general seat of the National Assembly. This has resulted in protests and some friction within the party ranks as some colleagues are pointing out her long absence from the public scene.

Talal Chaudhri has been rewarded for his relentless defence of the party leader during his exile, in the form the nomination of Maria Talal against a reserved seat. Ms Zakia Khan heads the list, followed by Ishrat Ashraf, the wife of former NA deputy speaker Chaudhry Jafar Iqbal.

The PPP’s priority list of women candidates for the National Assembly features veteran stalwart Shazia Marri. Other candidates include the old timers like Dr Nafisa Shah, Shagufta Jumani, Shehla Raza, Mehtab Akbar Rashidi, Musarrat Rafiq, Shazia Soomro, Naz Baloch, Seher Kamran, Sharmila Farooqi, Shazia Abid, Rehana Baloch, Neelum Jabbar, Nargis Faiz, Nayab Gohar Jan and Shazia Nizamani. The list includes ex-MPAs Shazia Abid and Neelum Jabbar Chaudhry, women wing leader Nargis Faiz Malik, old stalwarts Shahida Jabeen and Sonia Khan.

Nayab Gohar Jan is visibly conflicted as she and other family members may be unable to campaign for her brother Ammar Ali Jan who is a candidate for the Huqooq-i-Khalq Party in Lahore. The names of Nayab Gohar Jan and her father Khalid Javed Jan figure in a recently formed PPP committee to oversee and run Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s campaign in NA-127 (Lahore).

The IPP has issued a list of 14 women candidates and the Jamaat-i-Islami 21 women candidates. Tehreek-i-Labaik Pakistan has proposed 23 women candidates for the Punjab Assembly in its priority list.

The list presented by Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) has six names for the National Assembly, 14 for the Sindh Assembly and six for the reserved seats for minorities. Its candidates for the National Assembly include Aasia Ishaq, Nighat Shakil, Sabeen Ghouri, Rana Ansar, Farzana Saeed and Sofia Advocate.

The MQM-P candidates for the Sindh PA include Sofia Saeed Advocate, Sikandar Khatoon, Kiran Masood, Farah Sohail, Quratul Ain, Bilqees, Naheed Begum, Musarrat Jabeen, Maryam Qureshi, Afshan Qambar, Razia, Najma Jamal and Rashmia Khan. The candidates for reserved seats for minorities include Anil Kumar Ratnani, Mangla Sharma, Sanjay Perwani, Tanveer Bagga and Shahid Saeed Bhatti.

In the TLP list most of the candidates hail from middle and lower middle classes. Most of the Jamaat-i-Islami’s nominees are leaders of the party’s women wing.

The IPP list includes the Child Protection Bureau chairperson Sarah Ahmed and former MPA Sadia Suhail Rana.

For eight seats reserved for non-Muslims, Sardar Ramesh Arora and Khalil Tahir Sindhu are old-timers on the PML-N list, besides Joyce Ruffin Julius, who has been in the 2002-07 and 2007-13 assemblies, on a PML-Q seat.

The writer is a senior political reporter