MMA says it was denied minority seat

The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) in the NWFP has said the election commission erred while declaring the election result of the non-Muslim seats and thus denied one minority seat to the MMA.

MMA leader Maulana Gul Naseeb Khan, who is also provincial general secretary of the JUI-F, told Gulf News that their six-party religious alliance had forwarded names of three candidates for the three reserved seats for non-Muslims from the NWFP to the election commission.

He said the MMA was surprised when the election commission announced that one non-Muslim would remain vacant because the MMA had submitted the name of only one candidate for the election.

According to the Maulana, the MMA initially submitted one list containing the name of one minority candidate to the election commission.

"Subsequently, we submitted our final list with the names of three candidates for the three reserved seats of non-Muslims. The MMA head Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani signed that list as per requirement of the election commission.

"That MMA list should be considered final and the name of our second minority candidate should be notified as an MPA-elect," he stressed.

The election commission has notified the election of two minority candidates for the reserved seats for non-Muslims from the NWFP. One is MMA's Gorsaran Lal, who is Sikh and belongs to Buner district, and the second is Malik Qasimuddin Khalid, fielded by the PPP (Sherpao) for the seat reserved for Ahmadis. Lal would represent the Sikhs, Hindus and Kalash tribe of Chitral in the provincial assembly.

The third minority seat declared vacant is reserved for Christians. If the election commission accepts the MMA contention, the election of its second minority MPA would be notified. The candidate belongs to the Christian community and hails from Bannu.