A rudderless ship: ANP to complete district-level elections this month

Party workers claim some members are ‘cheating’ their way to the top.

PESHAWAR: The intra-party elections of Awami National Party (ANP) are expected to be completed across all districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa by the end of this month.

After reports of delays at the branch and union council level elections in Peshawar, Mardan, Charsadda and Nowshera, the time period to complete the polls was extended, for the third time.

The intra-party elections of the party at the district level were supposed to be held in January this year under the supervision of the party’s provincial election commission and at the provincial level in February under the supervision of the central election commission of the party.

After completion of the intra-party elections at the district level, members of the provincial council will elect their provincial and central leadership. For the central posts, office-bearers of all four provinces will participate.

The Express Tribune, however, has learnt that names of the party’s provincial and central leaders have already been decided, in principle at least. Former chief minister and ANP’s sole lawmaker in the National Assembly Amir Haider Khan Hoti is expected to become the party’s provincial president and former provincial information minister, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the provincial general secretary.

The former central president of ANP, Asfandyar Wali Khan, is expected to hold on to his office for the fifth time while Senator Afrasiab Khattak may become the central secretary general of the party.

A senior ANP activist told The Express Tribune, while requesting anonymity, that some party workers sabotaged the district-level elections.

He said a party worker needs 250 members to submit forms in his support to become a councillor and thus become eligible to vote in the party’s district elections.

A party member revealed that some people who desire to become councillors are “using illegal strategies while filling the registration forms”. He said ‘desirables’ are filling the forms themselves according to voter registration lists prepared by the Election Commission of Pakistan and are thus “cheating” their way to the top.

“My father was the right-hand man of Rehbar-e-Tehreek Khan Abdul Wali Khan but the prevailing situation of the party makes me worry for its future,” the ANP member said.

On the other hand, the party’s provincial organiser, Bashir Matta, rejected the claims made by some workers, terming them mere speculations. He said the intra-party elections will be held on time and in a clean and transparent manner.

“ANP believes in democracy and will never take any step against the party manifesto.” Matta told The Express Tribune. He said those spreading the rumours were sitting outside the party’s fold and giving statements based on assumptions.

He said the party’s organisers were busy collecting results from all the districts of the province and will try to hold the provincial elections by the end of this month.

“The reorganisation process on the district levels has been completed in Peshawar, Mardan, Charsadda, Nowshera, Buner, Torghar, Haripur, Hangu, Parachinar and Kohat while the process will soon be completed in the remaining districts,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 7^th, 2014.