MMA completes deliberation upon seat distribution for polls

PESHAWAR: The parliamentary board of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) has completed its deliberations over the distribution of seats among the component parties for national and provincial assemblies for contesting the upcoming general election.

The final decision about the allotment of tickets would be taken at the meeting of the party heads of the five-party religio-political alliance, which is likely to be held today. The meeting was earlier scheduled to be held on Wednesday, but due to the oath-taking of the caretaker chief minister and a number of other issues it was postponed till Thursday, said an office-bearer of the alliance.

The MMA had given the task of ticket distribution to its units in the respective districts. All the parties of the alliance, especially the two senior partners - Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) - have been striving to get maximum share in the tickets.

Reliable sources in the alliance told The News that almost all the districts have submitted their lists of possible candidates to the provincial parliamentary board, which would be discussed in the meeting of the party heads for taking the final decision.

There were disputes on some seats in almost all the districts of the province. However, the district level organisations of the alliance have given their recommendations in light of which the matters would be resolved in today’s meeting, the sources said.

There is no such formula in black and white for ticket distribution. However, majority of the decisions about tickets are being taken on the basis of the parties’ performance in the 2013 general election and the local government elections.

There were reports that the alliance faced deadlock on the ticket distribution. However, the senior leadership of the alliance made it clear that there has been no deadlock at any point.

They insisted that the deliberations continued smoothly without any pause. However, some of the seats are yet to be decided.

The sources said that the decision-making in some of the districts was not very difficult as consensus there could be reached easily.

The JI has unilaterally announced its candidates for the two districts of Dir, which are considered as stronghold of the party. However, a senior leader of the JI told this reporter that the announcement was not unilateral and it had been made with the consent of other partners in the alliance. The JI has fielded its candidates on all the seats in Upper Dir and Lower Dir.

However, in Malakand district the National Assembly seat on which the JI candidate had contested and won election in 2002 polls would be given to JUI-F and Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the brother of JUI-F’s former Member National Assembly from Mardan Maulana Mohammad Qasim, would be the possible candidate.

In return, the two provincial assembly seats in Malakand district would likely go to JI.

Buner is one of the districts where both the parties have been unable to reach a consensus. Perhaps the most controversial among the provincial assembly seats is PK-20 Buner-I on which both the JUI-F and JI are adamant not to step back from their position.

Both the parties have strong position in this constituency. The JI candidate Bakht Jehan Khan got elected from this seat four times. However, he lost the election to JUI-F’s Maulana Mufti Fazal Ghafoor in the 2013 election.

Buner is the third district after Upper Dir and Lower Dir where JI has a solid vote-bank. Sources said a consensus could be reached between the JI and JUI-F in Buner if JI withdrew from National Assembly seat on which it had secured victory in the 2013 polls and left it to the JUI-F. In return the JI could get the right to contest for the three provincial assembly seats in Buner.

The JI has already unilaterally announced candidates for the three provincial assembly seats in Buner. Instead of former provincial minister Habibur Rahman Khan, his son Engineer Nasir Ali would try his luck this time on the PK-21 Buner-II.

The sources said that in Swat the ticket distribution would be done on the pattern of 2002 and both the parties would get almost an equal share.

In the central districts - Buner, Swabi, Mardan, Charsadda and Nowshera - the sources said it had almost been decided to follow the 2002 election model. However, in these districts too, decision on some of the seats would not be that easy. One such seat is the PK-76 Peshawar-XI, which was formerly PK-1 Peshawar-1. A junior partner of the alliance Jamiat Ahle Hadith wants this seat as their candidate Dr Zakir Shah had won it in 2002. But the JI is interested to field Bahrullah Khan, who had bagged a sizeable number of votes in the previous general election from this constituency.

Some reports suggested that the case of Dr Zakir Shah this time is weak because he once left his party and joined PML. Besides, he could get only a few hundred votes on this seat in the 2013 polls.

Another seat on which Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Pakistan is interested to field its provincial president and vice-president of the alliance Qari Muhammad Fayyaz is PK-54 Mardan-IV. However, the JI would not give up this seat because of its strong position there.

Jamiat Ahle-Hadith is expected to be given the National Assembly seat in Abbottabad, while the JUP may get a provincial assembly seat, PK-62 Nowshera-11. A JI deserter Engineer Ameer Alam, who has joined JUP, may be given the MMA ticket for this constituency.

The third junior partner of the alliance - Pakistan Islami Tehreek - has been vying for the National Assembly ticket from Kurram Agency and its provincial President Allama Hameed Hassan Imami is likely to be given the ticket.

In the southern districts of the province, most of the MMA tickets are likely to be given to JUI-F. However, the JI may also get one provincial assembly ticket each in the districts of Kohat, Karak, Bannu, Lakki Marwat and Dera Ismail Khan.