PTI workers participate in a by-election rally held in Bannu. PHOTO: ONLINE
About 87 candidates will be contesting the by-polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) on August 22. Of these, 60 are vying for five National Assembly (NA) seats while 27, including 17 independent candidates, are contesting for four provincial assembly seats.
According to an Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) official, 17.08 million voters are registered in the five NA constituencies, with 5,138 polling stations. The electoral roll consists of 732,749 women.
The Awami National Party (ANP), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) are jointly supporting their candidates on five NA and four provincial assembly seats. The JUI-F will extend support to ANP’s Ghulam Ahmad Bilour for NA-1, Peshawar and Daud Khattak for NA-5, Nowshera. In return, the ANP will vouch for JUI-F’s Maulana Attullah Darwash for NA-13, Swabi, Maulana Asad Mahmood for NA-25, DI Khan and Maulana Attaur Rehman for NA-27.
Chief Minister Pervez Khattak gave up his NA-5 seat while K-P Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser relinquished NA-13 to get elected to the provincial assembly. Similarly, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan, who won substantially more votes against Bilour in NA-1, decided to retain his NA-56, Rawalpindi seat instead.
The provincial government – which includes PTI, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) and Awami Jamhoori Ittehad Pakistan (AJIP) – is supporting PTI candidates Gul Bacha in NA-1, Imran Khattak in NA-5, Aqibullah Khan in NA-13, Engineering Dawar Khan Kundi in NA-25 and Amirullah in NA-27.
On the provincial front, the ruling parties are supporting PTI’s Syed Umar Farooq for PK-23, Malik Adnan Khan in PK-70 and JI’s Advocate Fazli Rabani for PK-27. The opposition’s candidates include ANP’s Ahmad Khan Bahdar for PK-23, JUI-F’s Zakkaullah Khan for PK-27 and Azam Khan Durani for PK-70.
PK-23 Mardan was vacated after ANP leader and former chief minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti chose to retain his National Assembly seat. Former chief minister and JUI-F MNA Akram Durrani gave up his PK-70 seat and opted for the National Assembly too.
PK-27 abruptly fell vacant after independent lawmaker Imran Mohmand was killed in a suicide attack at a funeral in Shergrah on June 17. In addition to killing Mohmand, the attack claimed 37 lives and injured more than 40 others. Similarly, PK-42 fell vacant after unidentified gunmen shot down PTI’s MPA Farid Khan in Hangu on June 3.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 21st, 2013.
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