‘Grudges’ punished ANP in by-polls

Despite history, workers of constituent parties kept each other at arm’s length

PESHAWAR:

Particularist pursuits and past rivalries among workers of the coalition parties dealt a fatal blow to prospects of ANP and JUI-F during Sunday’s by-polls and cost them votes they would have won as a single group, sources said on Monday.

A day after Imran Khan upstaged both the parties in by-elections, sources said, workers of the parties included in the PDM coalition once again rejected the politics of alliances while their leaders, on the other hand, did back each other.

Despite the traditional politics of forming coalitions and contesting the elections jointly, the workers of the constituent parties were seen keeping each other at arm’s length.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Imran Khan managed to defeat both JUI-F and ANP. ANP provincial chief Aimal Wali Khan and senior leader Ghulam Ahmed Bilour were defeated by the PTI chief by a margin of over 10,000 and over 25,000 votes in Charsadda (NA-24) and Peshawar (NA-31), respectively.

The PTI chief won NA-24 Charsadda seat securing 78,589 votes against Aimal Wali Khan’s 68,356 votes while in NA-31, Imran Khan secured 57,814 against Bilour’s 32,252 votes. Bilour, however, refused to accept the result and vowed to challenge the decision in the Election Commission of Pakistan and the courts.

Similarly, the JUI-F’s Maulana Qasim also failed to grab the NA-22 seat. The PTI chairman got 76,681 votes while the JUI-F’s nominee got 68,181 votes, a victory margin of a little over 8,000 votes.

In Peshawar (NA-31), although the turnout in this constituency was less than the other two constituencies, the defeat of Bilour at the hands of Imran Khan was by a large margin, making it clear the political grudges and rivalries prevailed over the joint efforts.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 18^th, 2022.