Absorbing contest in NA-27 among three wealthy candidates

PESHAWAR: An absorbing contest is expected on the National Assembly (NA) constituency NA-27 Peshawar-I as the mainstream political parties have fielded wealthy candidates.

Out of 10 candidates for NA-27, three millionaires are in the run. They are former senator and Peshawar district nazim Ghulam Ali from Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), Noor Alam Khan of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and former advisor to prime minister and ex-MNA Asma Arbab Alamgir of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

The Awami National Party (ANP) has fielded Arbab Tahir Nadeem, who hails from a known Arbab family of Lala Kilay. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has awarded ticket to former MPA Sobia Shahid.

The other candidates contesting the election from the constituency are Amjad Ali from Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) and four independent candidates including Sidra Faheem, Shakil Abid, Faqir Muhammad and Naveed Ali.

PTI candidate Sajid Nawaz had won the seat with 66,500 votes in the 2013 general election against Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) candidate Ghulam Ali who had bagged 38,600 votes. The PPP candidate Noor Alam Khan stood third by obtaining 22,045 votes.

Noor Alam Khan was declared the richest candidate in the 2008 general election. When he quit the PPP and joined the PTI, the provincial government gave funds for development schemes that were utilized on his recommendation in the NA-27 constituency.

The PPP candidate Asma Alamgir had moved the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the Peshawar High Court against the continuation of development schemes, including the installation of electric poles in the constituency and provision of transformers despite the ECP ban. The high court gave stay orders in the petition.

The MMA candidate Ghulam Ali, who belongs to the JUI-F, is also very rich due to his stakes in real estate.

The PPP candidate Asma Alamgir is also wealthy due to her landed property.

The history of the past election results show that no political party can claim complete hold on this constituency as it was won by different policies parties from time to time.

In the 2002 general election, Qari Fayyazur Rehman Alvi had won it on the MMA ticket by securing 33,500 votes. PPP’s Kiramatullah Chagarmatti was the runner-up with 18,900 votes.

In the 2008 election, Noor Alam Khan had contested the election on the ticket of PPP and scored a victory by securing 27,000 votes against Muhammad Hashim Babar of ANP with a margin of 800 votes.

The 2013 election was decisively won by PTI candidate Sajid Nawaz.

The constituency consists of urban and rural areas like Gul Bela, Chagarmatti, Ghari Mohmand, Charsadda Road, Muhammadzai, Khalisa area which comprises several villages, Dilazak Road, Kandar and Naguman.

Most people in the constituency are Pashto-speakers. The second main language is Hindko which is spoken in the villages of the Khalsa belt.

A major source of income of the people is farming, livestock and transport. Due to its vicinity to Peshawar, many people have been able to get government jobs. A large number of people have gone abroad to work as migrant workers.

The biradari system is strong in the constituency. There are many influential landlords in the area.

As per the data of the ECP, there would be 254 polling stations in the constituency, including 131 for males, 106 for females and 17 combined polling stations.

There would be 848 polling booths in the constituency including 495 for males and 353 for females. The total number of votes in the constituency is 337,329 including 196,977 males and 140,352 females.