PESHAWAR: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) won three and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) secured only one seat in the first-ever election in newly merged districts for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.
The elections were held the other day on the total 16 new seats of the provincial assembly. Sirajuddin Khan of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) made a smooth sailing to the provincial legislature by securing a big margin victory on PK-102, Bajaur.
He bagged 19,088 ballots against the 14,436 of Hameedur Rahman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) who remained the runner-up. Sultan Mohammad of JUI-F got 9,225 votes to remain third. JI also performed well on the remaining two constituencies in Bajaur and lost them to the PTI candidates with a very low margin. The JI candidates on both the seats PK-100 and PK-101, Maulana Waheed Gul and Sahibzada Haroonur Rashid, were having a lead against rival the candidates till late.
However, the results changed at the end and the PTI nominees raced ahead of them. Maulana Waheed Gul polled 11,775 ballots on PK-100 while Anwar Zeb Khan of the PTI polled 12,951 and emerged victorious. Abdur Rasheed of JUI-F secured 8,432 ballots on the seat. Similarly, Sahibzada Haroonur Rashid, a former MNA, got 10,468 votes to lose the seat to Ajmal Khan of PTI, who secured 12,194 ballots. Ahmad Zeb Khan of JUI-F polled 4,827 votes. In the other six districts and ex-Frontier Region, JI failed to perform well. The party candidates could poll a few thousand ballots on the two constituencies of Khyber only. JUI-F, on the other hand, was better in term of ballots as well as victories. The party won three seats one each in Kurram, South Waziristan and ex-Frontier Region. Mohammad Riaz of JUI-F emerged victorious on PK-108, Kurram. He bagged 11,948 ballots. The JI was supporting independent Saleem Khan on this constituency, who got 3,269 votes. Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Sami had also fielded its lone candidate Mohammad Karim Akhtar on this seat, who could get only 228 votes.
On PK-113, South Waziristan, Isamuddin of JUI-F got 10,356 votes and made his way to the provincial assembly. Dr Samiullah Jan of JI secured only 484 votes. Mohammad Shoaib, another JUI-F nominee who made it to the provincial assembly from PK-115, ex-Frontier Region, got 18,102 ballots. He was closely followed by PTI candidate Abidur Rahman with 18,028 votes. The JI had also fielded a woman candidate Malasa Bibi on PK-109, Kurram, but she could get just 17 ballots.
The position of other candidates of the two major religious parties, who were united during the 2018 general election under the umbrella of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, was as follows:On PK-103, Mohmand, where Nisar Ahmad of Awami National Party secured victory with 11,247 votes, JUI-F’s Gulab Noor got 8,306 for the third position, while JI’s Haji Fazle Raziq was somewhere in the bottom of the list with just 1,830 ballots. Mohammad Saeed of JI, who too was considered as one of the strong candidates of the party, could get only 2,028 votes on PK-104, Mohmand, a seat won by Abbasur Rahman as independent by obtaining 11,751 votes, while Mohammad Arif of JUI-F was the runner-up with 9,801 ballots.
On PK-105, Khyber, independent candidate Shafiq Afridi from the wealthy family of Shahjee Gul Afridi, carried the day by polling 19,733 ballots. Mohammad Ijaz of JUI-F could get 1,865 votes and JI’s Murad Hussain polled 640 votes.PK-106, Khyber, also went to Shahjee Gul’s family as Bilawal Afridi won the seat in independent capacity by getting 12,814 votes. Shah Jehan Afridi of JI, who was considered as a strong contender, could secure 4,244 votes, while Ghufranullah of JUI-F got 2,423 votes. On PK-107, Khyber, Mohammad Shafiq Afridi, another independent candidate, won the polls. He got 9,796 votes. Shah Faisal of JI got 4,919 votes, while Shamsuddin of JUI-F secured 3,296 votes. On PK-110, Orakzai, Ghazi Ghazan Jamal as an independent candidate got 18,448 votes to win the seat, JI’s Amjad Nauman could get only 72 votes, while Qasim Gul of JUI-F secured 49 votes only. On PK-111, North Waziristan, which was won by Mohammad Iqbal of PTI with 10,200 votes, Samiuddin of JUI-F secured 9,288 votes, and Asadullah Shah, independent, bagged 1957 ballots with the support of JI. On PK-112, North Waziristan, the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement-backed Mir Kalam Khan secured 12,057 ballots to emerge victorious. The JUI-F candidate Siddiqullah secured 7,978 to stand second, while, Rahmanullah Khan of the JI could get only 558 votes. On PK-114, South Waziristan, JUI F’s Saleh got 7,103 and lost to PTI’s Naseerullah Khan, who secured 11,114 votes, while JI’s Saifur Rahman obtained just 81 votes.