MML’s political front fails to meet ECP criteria on female representation

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LAHORE: The latest political front of Jamaatud Dawa, Allah-o-Akbar Tehreek (AAT) needs at least 11 more women to fulfil criteria set by the Election Commision of Pakistan (ECP) requiring each party’s candidate list to have at least five per cent female candidates, a local news outlet reported on Sunday.

Currently, the party only fields two women out of 265 candidates.

The AAT has been backed by the Milli Muslim League (MML) which could not be registered as a party owing to links with the outlawed militant outfit. MML was also listed as an affiliate of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

According to MML Spokesperson Tabish Qayyum, the party would enlist female representatives in the next few days.

He said that MML candidates had to contest from AAT tickets because the former could not be registered as a political party.

The party is expected to field 79 candidates for the National Assembly and 186 for provincial seats.

With regards to making alliances, the party’s spokesperson acknowledged that they are currently negotiating with the Pakistan Muslim League -Quaid (PML-Q) and Pakistan Muslim League-Functional but denied the MML would pursue an alliance with Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) because it opposed the party’s registration bid.