Senate polls in KP: Unclear how dissidents in political parties will vote

PESHAWAR: The parliamentary parties in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly have nominated candidates for the upcoming Senate elections but both the treasury and opposition benches have dissidents in their ranks and this could lead to vote-buying or disloyalty to their respective parties in the secret ballot.

In the 123-members House, the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has 62 members including an independent while its coalition partner, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) has seven members. The combined opposition parties have 55 members including 18 from Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), 15 from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F), 10 from the Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) and seven and five members each from Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Awami National Party (ANP), respectively.

The PTI has awarded tickets to six candidates for general, technocrat and women reserved seats for the Senate polls to be held on March 3. The JI has nominated two candidates for general and technocrat seats. The PML-N and JUI-F have fielded four candidates each for the Upper House of Parliament while PPP nominated four aspirants for the Senate polls. QWP and ANP fielded two candidates each for general and women reserved seats.

However, the PTI and QWP among their members have certain dissidents in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly who openly opposed party policies and stance during the assembly session. Led by PTI MPA Qurban Ali Khan from Nowshera, there are at least five dissidents in the party who had openly raised their voice against Chief Minister Pervez Khattak inside and outside the provincial assembly. At least three lawmakers including a female in the QWP openly revolted against party policies and its leadership in the provincial assembly. The lone PML-N MPA from Peshawar, Arbab Waseem did not participate in the recently held public gathering of the party in Peshawar addressed by deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. He even proposed the name of independent candidate Maulana Samiul Haq for the Senate election.

JUI-F MPA Fazal Shakoor Khan recently quit the party and then joined the ruling PTI. He was elected from Charsadda and had previously been an MPA from the ANP. Also, certain JUI-F members, including two from Hazara and two from southern districts of the province, had differences with the parliamentary party leader, Maulana Lutfur Rahman in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.

The ANP hasn’t awarded tickets to two of its current MPAs for the next general election and at least one of them may go against party policy in the Senate election. The PPP has now seven members including Ziaullah Afridi in the provincial assembly. It isn’t in a position to get one of its candidates elected as senator, but the party has awarded tickets to four of its nominees.

It is worth mentioning here that Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak had issued a statement to the media that the practice of vote buying and selling would be discouraged in the upcoming Senate election. This would be possible only when the main political parties in the provincial assembly agree on a joint strategy for the election and take firm steps to discourage buying and selling of votes.