KARACHI: A total of 19 female candidates from Karachi will be contesting for National Assembly seats in the upcoming elections. Awami National Party (ANP) has granted tickets to three female candidates while Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) has fielded two female candidates. On the other hand, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) have awarded tickets to two female candidates each. A total of four women will be contesting in the polls as independent candidates. Moreover, The Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), Allah-o-Akbar Tehreek (AAT), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) , Amun Taraqqi Party (ATP) and All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) have also allowed women to contest from their platform. ANP has fielded Shazia Razzaq Khan from NA-244, Samina Huma Mir from NA-245 and Sofia Yaqoob from NA-256. Sofia Yaqoob, who belongs to the Christian community is facing heavyweights like PPP’s Sajid Hasan, MQM’s Amir Waliudeen Chishti, PSP’s Muhammad Adil Siddiqui, PTI’s Muhammad Najeeb Haroon and JI’s Meraj ul Huda Siddiqui in her constituency. Despite tough competition and limited resources to spend on her campaign, Sofia Yaqoob remains enthusiastic about her election campaign. The candidate is also hoping to represent 12000 Christian voters who reside in Pahar Gunj, Nusrat Bhutto Colony, and Kausar Niazi Colony. The candidate is focused on the issues of water scarcity, and child and mother mortality rates PPP has fielded former deputy speaker Shehla Raza from NA-243 to contest election against PTI’s Imran and MQM-P’s Syed Ali Raza Abidi. The other female candidate, Liza Mehdi received a ticket for NA-254 Karachi Central-II. Here, she will be facing Muttahidda Majlis-i-Amal’s (MMA) Rashid Naeem and PTI’s Muhammad Aslam Khan. MQM has fielded Kishwer Zehra from NA-242 and Afshan Qambar Ali from NA-248 while MQM opponent PSP has awarded tickets to Dr Fouzia Hameed for NA-249 and Fauzia Kasuri for NA-247. Dr Fouzia Hameed was elected into the assembly in 2013 elections. She has also served as a minister. Fauzia Kasuri who was one of the founding members of PTI announced her decision to join PSP late in May. The candidate will be contesting against PTI’s bigwig Dr. Arif-ur-Rehman Alvi. Grand Democratic Alliance’s (GDA) Ghazia Ali is also contesting from NA-247. Shakeela Sheikh, a blogger, told Daily Times, “Female participation in politics will bring positive changes. It will put an end to domestic violence and gender discrimination.” Shakeela Sheikh was of the view that female turnout will increase political consciousness among women. “Women will understand that they should be casting their votes instead of sitting at home,” she added. Recently, the Sindh Commission on the Status of Women (SCSW) urged political parties to field their female candidates in the constituencies where they had a high probability of winning. SCSW Chairperson Nuzhat Shirin said that all parties were bound to give at least five percent tickets to female candidates for general seats. In all of Karachi’s history, just two female candidates took NA seats from Karachi. One of them was Benazir Bhutto, who in the general election of 1988 got 62046 votes from old NA-189 covering Karachi West. After almost two decades of Benazir Bhutto getting voted into the assembly, MQM candidate Khush Bakhat Shujat won the 2008 elections by receiving 52045 votes. The female turnout for 2018 General elections is expected to be greater than the turnout in previous elections. Sindh Election Commissioner Muhammad Yousuf Khan Khatak also warned people against stopping female citizens from voting. The number of female voters in Karachi Central is 777,876 while Karachi East has 612,204 registered female voters. Karachi South has 442,892 female voters whereas Karachi West has 610,652 registered female voters. In Korangi the number of female voters is 519,021 and in Malir it is 298,603. According to ECP, 99 female candidates contested for National Assembly seats in 2013 elections and a total of 247 women submitted their nomination papers. The number of women candidates contesting for NA seats from Sindh in 2018 has declined to 76. Furthermore, only 213 female candidates submitted their nomination papers this time. Published in Daily Times, July 24th 2018.