An interesting feature of the general elections held on February 8 was that 12 females, belonging to four political parties, succeeded in getting elected to the National Assembly (NA) by beating their strong male opponents, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Monday.
Of these 12 women, five were PTI-backed independents, four belonged to the PML-N, two to PPP and one belonged to the MQM-P.
Four women, including PML-N’s Chief Organizer Maryam Nawaz, were those who for the first time had been elected as members of the National Assembly (MNAs).
Besides Maryam, three other women were Aniqa Mehdi Bhatti, Ayesha Nazir Jat and Amber Majeed Niazi.
According to the results issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), five PTI-supported women namely Ayesha Nazir Jat from Vehari, Shandana Gulzar from Peshawar, Aneeqa Mehdi Bhatti from Hafizabad, Amber Majeed Niazi from Layyah, and Zartaj Gul from Dera Ghazi Khan won their seats after a tough competition.
Similarly, PML-N female candidates namely Nausheen Iftikhar from Sialkot, Maryam Nawaz from Lahore, Shazra Mansab from Nankana and Tehmina Doltana from Vehari also succeeded in making it to the NA.
Likewise, three women candidates emerged victorious from Sindh.
These were PPP’s Shazia Marri and Nafeesa Shah from Sanghar and Khairpur respectively, and MQM-P’s Asia Ishaq from Karachi.