The world’s fifth-largest democracy is going to enter the much-awaited nationwide election phase on February 8 with a record 128 million nationals eligible to cast votes. The NA-25 Nowshera-I was renamed “Charsadda-II” following the new delimitations finalised by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in accordance with the 2023 digital census data. Overall, 13 candidates are going to contest the 2024 polls from this constituency, including some prominent political figures from major parties. The candidates include the Awami National Party’s Aimal Wali Khan, the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Aftab Alam, Falak Niaz — the candidate from the Pervez Khattak-founded Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-Parliamentarians (PTI-P), Imran-led PTI-backed candidate Fazal Muhammad Khan, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl’s (JUI-F) Maulana Muhammad Goher Shah, Jamaat-e-Islami’s Musawer Shah Durani, and others. In the 2018 general polls, the seat was won by former PTI stalwart and ex-Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) chief minister Khattak, who later formed his own party — PTI-P — in July last year.