ANP announces body for intra-party election in Mardan

MARDAN: The Awami National Party (ANP) on Monday announced the names of members of the election commission for Mardan to hold the upcoming intra-party election in the district.It may be mentioned that the ANP had announced the intra-party election to be held in April and May next year.

According to the party, former lawmaker Ahmed Khan Bahadur, Shah Roh Aman, former district president Farooq Akram Khan, Haroon Khan and Jawad Takkar were made the members for election commission for Mardan district by party provincial election commission. Ahmed Khan Bahadur was later elected chairman and Haroon Khan as secretary of the district election commission.

Reacting to the development, ANP district president Himayatullah Mayar in a post shared on the social media criticized the announcement of the district election commission and declared it a premature decision. He said that work of the district election commission normally started after the completion of the membership campaign.

Mayar added the current district and union council organization would organize membership campaign. Later, he said, the district office-bearers election would be held under the supervision of provincial election commission.

He stated that the district election commission will supervise the election of sub-wards, constituencies and tehsils of the district. It may be noted that Ahmed Khan Bahadur and Himayatullah Mayar had been at loggerheads since long and both leaders always try their best to oppose each other at every forum. The gulf between the two widened when the ANP allotted the party ticket to Ahmed Khan Bahadur for the recent by-election on PK-53.

Himayatullah Mayar strongly criticized the decision in party meeting and announced that he will oppose Ahmed Khan Bahadur in the by-election. Later, the party issued him showcase notice.