Uncertainty over PTI ticket for NA-10 Shangla continues

PESHAWAR: Once again there is uncertainty over the award of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) ticket for the National Assembly constituency NA-10 Shangla amid reports that the ticket is being withdrawn from Nawaz Mehmood to give it to Waqar Ahmad Khan.

The speculation is hurting the PTI chances on the seat as other parties have finalized their candidates and they are already running their election campaigns. Nawaz Mehmood too had started his campaign and held some public meetings in the constituency.

Shangla is the home district of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) provincial President Amir Muqam and he and his brother Dr Ibadullah have been winning the lone National Assembly from the district in past polls. A PTI candidate and also of other parties has to be strong to defeat Amir Muqam or his brother as the PML-N government focused attention on Shangla during the party’s just-concluded five-year in the centre.

In the 2013 general election, Nawaz Mehmood as the PTI candidate had obtained 6,120 votes while Waqar Ahmad Khan as the PML-N nominee had got about 2,000 votes. PML-N’s Dr Ibadullah had won the seat. The PTI central leadership, including Imran Khan, didn’t visit Shangla during the election campaign to give a boost to their candidates in the polls.

Waqar Ahmad had joined the PTI about three years ago while Nawaz Mehmood has had a long association with the party.

Nawaz Mehmood belongs to Chakesar tehsil of Shangla. He is the only candidate for the National Assembly from Chakesar while other tehsils of Shangla have several candidates including Waqar Ahmad. This is expected to give Nawaz Mehmood an advantage in the election.

When contacted to seek his comment on the latest developments, Nawaz Mehmood said it hasn’t been officially announced yet that PTI had awarded the ticket for NA-10 to Waqar Ahmad instead of him. “I am sure our leader Imran Khan will do justice as the name and slogan of our party suggests. I am hopeful that I will be the PTI candidate in this constituency,” he said. He added that he won’t mind if someone who got more votes than him in previous polls and remained associated with the PTI and loyal to its cause was preferred over him and given the ticket.

Nawaz Mehmood has been working in Shangla for years. He served on the Board of Governors of the Pakistan Red Crescent Society for more than six years. He recently visited the UAE and through his own contacts got an MoU signed between the ICBA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s BOIT to facilitate the ICBA’s investment in the agriculture and environment sectors in the province.

Meanwhile, another aspirant for the PTI ticket from Shangla, Tawab Khan has also backed the candidature of Nawaz Mehmood from NA-10 and termed him the most suitable and non-controversial contestant.