In the lead-up to the February 8 general election in Pakistan, the allocation of reserved seats for women in the National Assembly has become a serious concern. The mainstream political parties have submitted their priority lists with the Election Commission of Pakistan. However, the noticeable absence of women from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in these lists has sparked concerns about regional representation and gender inclusivity.

In December last, several prominent political parties, including the Pakistan Peoples Party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, the Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party, the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (Pakistan), submitted their priority lists for women’s reserved seats in the Lower House. The PML-N presented a list of names that included Tahira Aurangzeb, Shaista Pervaiz Malik, Maryam Aurangzeb, Nuzhat Sadiq, Musarrat Asif Khawaja, Wajiha Qamar, Zeb Jaffar, Anusha Rehman Khan, Kiran Imran Dar, Zahra Wadood Fatemi, Asia Naz Tanoli, Saba Sadiq, Farah Naz Akbar, Shahnaz Saleem and Tamkeen Akhtar Niazi.

The PPP’s list featured Shazia Marri, Dr Nafisa Shah, Sharmila Farooqi, Shagufta Jumani, Shehla Raza, Mehtab Akbar Rashidi, Shazia Soomro, Naz Baloch, Nayab Gohar and Shazia Nizamani, among others. Interestingly, these lists did not have a single woman from the KP.

Currently, the National Assembly of Pakistan comprises 336 seats. Out of these, 266 members are directly elected, while 60 women and 10 non-Muslim Pakistanis are elected to designated seats. Under the Election Act, the ECP seeks lists of preferred candidates for women’s reserved seats from the political parties, for specific constituencies. The ECP issues notifications for successful women candidates (on reserved seats), based on the proportion of seats won by the political parties in the elections. For example, if there are 60 women to be elected out of 266 seats, approximately every 4 seats will get a political party one seat for a woman.

According to the ECP, a total of 492 candidates have filed nomination papers for three categories of reserved seats, including those for women in the National Assembly and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, as well as seats for non-Muslims in the KP Assembly. Ninety-seven women submitted nominations for the 10 NA seats reserved for women in KP. An ECP official indicated that only candidates named in priority lists would be considered for reserved seats, potentially leading to the rejection of numerous nomination papers.

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has listed only one candidate from the KP, namely Maliha Ali Asghar, a former MPA, in its priority list for women’s reserved seats in the National Assembly.

In the 2018 general election, the PTI had won a landslide victory in the KP, winning 37 general seats. It had also won 8 out of the 10 reserved seats. The PML-N and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal had won one reserved seat each.

Qamar Naseem, a social activist based in Peshawar, says that due to political uncertainty, no party was likely to win a majority of seats in the forthcoming election. Hence, not a lot of women candidates representing any party were expected to reach the National Assembly.

Further, since the PML-N and the PPP don’t appear to have focused on the KP, there is little chance that these mainstream political parties will succeed in obtaining women’s reserved seats from the KP.

When quizzed, PPP’s Abidullah Yousafzai expressed surprise at the absence of women from the KP in the party’s priority list. He promised to take up the matter with the party leadership.

Samar Haroon Bilour of the Awami National Party emphasizes the party’s commitment to women’s rights. She says that their priority list features four women members, namely, Dr Noor Jahan, Shagufta Malik, Yasmeen Zia and Iram Fatima.

The ANP has also fielded women candidates for general seats. Bilour says they are the only party that represents the Pashtuns and believes in equal opportunities for the women in the KP.

PML-N’s Azmat Khan Daudzai defends the submissions, saying that the parliamentary body chaired by Nawaz Sharif is the final authority. However, he acknowledges the dominance of the Punjab in the lists submitted by the party.

In February 2023, the Free and Fair Election Network had demanded divisional quotas for seats reserved for women in the national and provincial assemblies, so as to ensure the geographical representativeness of women as well as to incentivise their greater political role in areas where women’s participation is marginal. This has resulted in an uneven distribution of quotas, with a few divisions and districts monopolising women’s representation and a majority of districts and divisions remaining unrepresented.

The FAFEN has proposed amendments to Sections 19(2) and 19(5) of the Elections Act, 2017, in order to provide for administrative divisions as territorial constituencies in a province, for reserved seats for women, under Articles 51(3) and 106(1) of the Constitution of Pakistan.

The writer is a freelance journalist based in Peshawar