PTI woos allies to capture CBP’s vice-chairman post

PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is trying to elect its nominee as the vice-chairman of the Cantonment Board Peshawar by contacting the elected members of the board and offering them incentives.
The PTI won two out of the five seats in the Cantonment Board Peshawar for which election was held on Saturday. Its winners include Sher Afzal Khan in ward 2 and Ghulam Hussain in ward 4.
The winners in the other three wards were Jamaat-i-Islami’s Atef Ali Khan, who is a lawyer and won from ward 5, PPP’s Yadullah Bangash who was the winner from ward 3, and independent candidate Waris Khan Afridi who beat 10 contestants including those from the PPP, PML-n, ANP and PTI in ward 1.
The PTI has two members and needs one more to gain majority among the five elected members. It could seek the support of the JI members Barrister Atef Ali Khan as the two parties are allies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and are coalition partners in the provincial government. However, the PTI and JI failed to form an electoral alliance for the Cantonment Board elections and their candidates contested against each other. When his comments were sought, Atef Ali Khan said the JI leadership would decide about any alliance that needed to be formed in the election for the vice-chairman of Cantonment Board Peshawar.
Some PTI office-bearers also approached independent Waris Khan Afridi and offered him the vice-chairman’s post in case he agreed to join the PTI. Waris Afridi sought time to make up his mind, though he preferred to remain an independent. The PTI could field Sher Afzal Khan for the vice-chairman’s post in case Waris Afridi declined to accept the PTI’s offer.