Spotlight on Peshawar: NA-1: Luck vs charisma

Amid hectic political activity, the contest heats up as polls approach.

PESHAWAR:

The first constituency of the National Assembly on the Election Commission’s list, NA-1, has produced the most unexpected results in electoral history. This year too, the constituency is the centre of hectic  political activity, as renowned politicians are set to contest elections from this seat.

NA-1 has been the bastion of power of the Awami National Party (ANP) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). It comprises the urban vote bank of Peshawar city, while its adjacent localities have the presence of religious parties. But with the emergence of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on the national scene the political dynamics of this constituency have changed drastically – with PTI eyeing a landmark victory against its competitors.

Who will contest?

ANP stalwart and former MNA Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, who has had an impressive victory run from this seat, now faces a formidable challenge in the person of Imran Khan.

NA-1 can also be called Bilour’s good luck charm, as he has won the 2008, 1997 and 1990 elections here and was also victorious in the 1988 by-elections.

Other notable contenders are JUI-F’s Haji Shahnawaz, PML-N’s Afzal Khan Panyala, PPP’s Zulfiqar Afghani and JI’s Shabbir Ahmad Khan.

In the 2008 election, the PPP finished runner-up. The party had won the 1988 and 1993 general elections from this seat and bagged more than 35,000 votes in the 2008 polls.

However, it is now considered a weak competitor because Zulfiqar Afghani, the man who received the PPP’s ticket, is not popular among the residents of the area and party workers. Reacting to Afghani’s nomination, PPP activists at the Union Council (UC) level have forwarded their resignations to the provincial president. They say that former district Peshawar nazim Azam Afridi is a more deserving candidate.

In 2002 Muttahidda Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) secured NA-1 constituency. Currently, religious parties’ votes in NA-1 are divided. JI, JUI-F and Muttahidda Deeni Mahaz (MDM) have separately fielded their candidates to contest the upcoming election.

According to the ECP’s 2008 election statistics, there are 387,083 registered voters in the constituency.

Bilour vs Khan

Bilour’s popularity gradually decreased in the constituency after winning the 2008 elections. However, when he put a bounty on the head of the producer of ‘Innocence of Muslims’ – the blasphemous film – the politician made a controversial comeback. Following his call for a bounty, the city saw one of the biggest protests staged against the film.

He is likely to bag votes from Zargarabad, Shaikhabad areas and from Shaheen Muslim Town – home to the permanent settlers of tribal areas. He is likely to get sympathy votes from the inner wall city area where his younger brother and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Senior Minister Bashir Ahmad Bilour was assassinated in an attack by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.

PTI, on the other hand, is counting on its youth vote bank and those not affiliated with political parties. It also has the advantage of organising large-scale public gatherings at the local level as their leaders face no threat from the Taliban. They are, however, losing out by not carrying out door-to-door campaigns.

The party thinks otherwise.

“We have 2,000 razakars (volunteers) and 2,000 permanent party members in NA-1 constituency whose primary responsibilities is to campaign in every street to inform people about PTI’s program,” Imran Khan’s election campaign manager from the constituency Younas Zaheer Mohmand told The Express Tribune.

He added that their “main target will be to reach those people who will cast their votes for the first time and those who did not vote earlier.”

Published in The Express Tribune, April 6^th, 2013.