ANP, PTI and PML-N in triangular contest in NA-29

PESHAWAR: A triangular contest is expected among the candidates of the Awami National Party (ANP), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in the National Assembly constituency NA-29.

Five candidates are contesting the general election in this rural Peshawar constituency. The PML-N has fielded its provincial President Amir Muqam, Arbab Kamal Ahmad is contesting on the ticket of ANP, Nasir Khan Musazai is the PTI candidate while Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) has fielded Naeem Jan.

Muhammad Shafiq is the candidate of the Tehreek Labbaik Pakistan while no independents are in the run in the constituency.

After the provisional results of the 6th Population and Housing Census 2017, the National Assembly seats in Peshawar increased to five. The delimitation has not only increased a National Assembly seat but has altered the constituencies. The NA-29 comprises of mainly former NA-4 as well as parts of the old NA-2 and NA-3.

The registered voters in the constituency, rebranded as NA-29, are 320,401.

The main towns in the constituency include Badaber, Matani, Adezai, Mashokhel, Mashogagar, Sheikh Mohammadi, Sarband, Pishtakhara, Sheikhan as well as some areas of Achini and Tajabad.

The area is largely less developed sharing a long boundary with the erstwhile tribal areas of Khyber Agency and Darra Adamkhel. It lacks most of the basic facilities including education, health, electricity, gas and road infrastructure.

Also, most of the areas in NA-29 suffered badly due to the militancy that started in 2006.

It witnessed a large number of attacks on security forces and the public. The area is still considered sensitive for the upcoming elections after the start of the recent wave of terrorism with the martyrdom of ANP candidate Haroon Bilour last week in Peshawar. That is why the candidates, as well as polling stations in NA-29, will need more security ahead of and during the polls.

Looking at the previous election record of the NA-4 the major part of which is now NA 29, one finds that the mainstream political parties have a consistent vote-bank in the constituency.

Mostly ANP, as well as the candidate of the PPP, have won elections from NA-4 in the past.

In 2002, however, a Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) candidate Sabir Hussain Awan belonging to the Jamaat-i-Islami was elected MNA from the area. Arbab Zahir of the ANP grabbed the seat in 2008.

However, Gulzar Khan of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) won the 2013 general election from NA-4 securing 55,134 votes. The PML-N candidate Nasir Khan Musazai was the distant runner-up with 20,412 votes.

The total registered votes at that time were 352,416. The turnout was 40.34 percent. Thirteen candidates had contested the election in the 2013 general election.

The seat fell vacant after the death of Gulzar Khan due to cardiac arrest in August 2017. In the by-election held in the constituency in October 2017, the PTI candidate Arbab Amir Ayub won the seat by securing 45,734 votes.

Khushdil Khan of the ANP polled 24, 874 votes and Nasir Khan Musazai of the PML-N received 24,790 votes. Asad Late Gulzar Khan’s son Asad Gulzar had contested the election on the PPP ticket after failing to get the PTI ticket and bagged 13,200 votes. Recently, he joined the PTI hoping to get its ticket for the July 2018 general election, but he wasn’t given the ticket. His family led by his uncle Iqbal Khan is now supporting the ANP candidate in the election.

Although registered votes in the by-election had increased to 397, 904 but the turnout had dropped to 33.67 percent in the by-election when 14 candidates were in the field.

In the 2018 general election, Nasir Khan Musazai who contested two previous elections on the PML-N ticket is running on the PTI ticket and would face Amir Muqam of the PML-N who had been his benefactor in the past. The other notable candidate is Arbab Kamal Ahmad of the ANP, though MMA’s Naeem Jan cannot be ignored.