ISLAMABAD: After completion of the scrutiny process, the Election Commission has said that around 11,855 candidates are in the fray for 849 general seats of Pakistan's national and provincial assemblies for the July 25 elections. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has issued the final list of candidates, according to which, 3459 candidates will contest on 272 general seats of the National Assembly, while 8396 will run for 577 general seats of the four provincial assemblies.
Latest figures show a significant decrease in the number of candidates compared to the 2013 general elections when a total of 15,629 candidates, 4671 for National Assembly and 10,958 for provincial assemblies were in the field. The ECP said that leadership of major political parties and other political bigwigs are contesting from more than one constituency in the upcoming elections. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shahbaz Sharif will contest from four constituencies of three provinces, while Chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari will contest on three seats.
