The February 8 general elections provided a big opportunity to newcomers, as 96 newly-elected lawmakers would take their seats in the National Assembly for the first time, the highest number of the first timers ever in the country.

Election were held on 265 out of a total 266 general seats of the National Assembly. Election in one constituency was postponed because of the death of a candidate. The results, also showed more than 100 independent candidates were election, which is also the highest number ever of independents.

In fact, barring a few, the independent candidates belonged to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). The party fielded those independents because the Election Commission of Pakistan deprived it of its electoral symbol of ‘bat’ due to the controversial intra-party elections.

Overall, 36% of the newly-elected members of the National Assembly (MNAs), are newcomers. The PTI has the lion’s share with 52 first timers. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has 15 and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) have 11 each.

The list includes six women candidates who for the first time won seats in a direct contest. Among them, PTI Shandana Gulzar has previously served as an MNA on the reserved seats for women. Also Waseem Qadir from NA-121, had joined the PM after winning the election with the PTI’s support.

Most of the PTI’s first timers came from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. They are: Abdul Latif, NA-1; Dr Amjad, NA-2; Sohail Sultan, NA-4; Barrister Gohar, NA-10; Muhammad Idris, NA-12; Shahzada Muhammad Gastasap Khan, NA-15; Ali Asghar Khan, NA-16; Atif Khan, NA-22; Shandana Gulzar, NA-30; Asif Khan, NA 32; Shah Ahad Ali Shah, NA-33; Zulfiqar Ali, NA-34; Yusuf Khan, NA-36; Naseem Ali Shah, NA-39; Sher Afzal Marwat, NA-41; and Zubair Khan, NA-42.

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The first-time PTI winners in Punjab are Chaudhry Ilyas, NA-62; Ahmed Chatta, NA-66; Anika Mehdi Bhatti, NA-67; Aslam Ghuman, NA-74; Mubeen Arif Jatt, NA-78; Ehsanullah Wark, NA-79; Osama Mela, NA-83; Shafqat Awan, NA-84; Moqdad Baloch, NA-86; Jamal Ahsan, NA-89; Umair Niazi, NA-90; Ali Afzal Sahi, NA-95; Rai Hyder Ali, NA-96; Saadullah Baloch , NA-97; Umar Farooq, NA-99; Rana Atif, NA-101; Changez Khan, NA-102; Ali Sarfraz, NA-103; Sahibzada Hamid Raza, NA-104; Osama Hamza, NA-105; Arshad Sahi, NA-111; Khurram Virk, NA-115; Latif Khosa, NA-122; Raza Ali Gilani, NA-137; Chaudhry Usman Ali, NA-142; Faraz Noon, NA-154; Ayesha Nazir Jatt, NA-156; Usman Owaisi, NA-167; Mian Ghaus, NA-170; Mustafa Mumtaz , NA-171; Fayaz Chhajra, NA-180; Anbar Majeed Niazi, NA-181; and Owais Haider Jhakkar NA-182. Adil Khan Bazai, NA-262, Quetta was elected from Balochistan.

The first-time elected candidates of the PML-N from Punjab are Raja Osama Sarwar, NA-51; Qamarul Islam Raja, NA-53; Daniyal Chaudhry, NA-57; Sardar Ghulam Abbas, NA-59; Bilal Azhar Kayani, NA-60; Chaudhry Naseer Abbas, NA-65; Usman Shahid, NA-80; Rana Ahmed Atiq, NA-113; Maryam Nawaz, NA-119; Atta Tarar, NA-127; Azeem Lakhvi, NA-133; Malik Iqbal, NA-168; Abdul Qadir Khan NA-184; Amaar Leghari, NA-187.

The PPP’s first timers are Fatehullah Khan, NA-45; Ali Jan Mazari, NA-191; Mir Shabir Ali Bajarani, NA-192; Muhammad Sheryar Khan from, NA-193; Nazir Ahmed, NA-195; Salahuddin Junejo, NA-210; Abdul Aleem Khan, NA-219; Haji Rasool Bakhsh Chandio, NA-223; and Dr Mirza Akhtar Baig, NA-241. Malik Shah, NA-259; and Nawabzada Mir Jamal Khan Raisani, NA-264 were elected from Balochistan.

On the MQM-P’s ticket, the newcomers are Asia Ishaq Siddiqui, NA 232; Javed Hanif, NA-233; Moin Amir Pirzada, NA-234; Hassan Sabir, NA-236; Rauf Siddiqui, NA-237; Sadiq Iftikhar, NA-238; Arshad Abdullah Wohra, NA-240; Syed Mustafa Kamal, NA-242; Syed Hafeezuddin, NA-245; Khawaja Izharul Hasan NA-247; and Saleem Siddiqui, NA-249.

Abdul Aleem Khan, NA-117, Lahore and; Aun Chaudhry, NA-128 were elected to the National Assembly for the first time on the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP), while Mufti Misbahuddin, NA-40, will also join the National Assembly for the first time on the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) ticket. Other first timers include Khushal Khan Kakar of the Pashtoonkhwa National Awami Party (PNAP), NA-251; Phalian of the National Party (NP), NA-258 and Hamid Hussain of the Muttahida Wahdatul Muslimeen, Pakistan (MWMP), NA-37. The list also includes three non-PTI-backed independents. They are Aqeel Malik, NA-54, Shamsher Mazari, NA-189 and Mian Khan, NA-253.