PESHAWAR: The family has taken precedence over the party if one looks at the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidates contesting the assembly by-elections being held on October 14. In Nowshera, Defence Minister Pervez Khattak secured PTI tickets for his younger brother Liaqat Khattak to contest from PK-61 and son Ibrahim Khattak from PK-64 to contest the by-election from two vacant provincial assembly seats.
Both seats were won by Pervez Khattak, the former chief minister, along with a National Assembly seat in the July 25 general election. He vacated the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly seats and kept the one in the National Assembly.
In Swabi, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser's younger brother Aqibullah is contesting for the provincial assembly seat, PK-44, that he vacated after winning it on July 25 along with a National Assembly seat. He kept the National Assembly seat and got promoted to become the National Assembly speaker after having served as the speaker of the KP Assembly from 2013-2018. In Dera Ismail Khan, Ali Amin Gandapur's younger brother Faisal Amin Gandapur is the PTI candidate on PK-97. Ali Amin Gandapur, the former provincial minister kept his National Assembly seat and vacated the one in the provincial assembly. He persuaded his brother Faisal Amin Gandapur, a French citizen, to give up his citizenship and return home and contest election for the provincial assembly in the by-election.
In PK-99 Dera Ismail Khan, late PTI provincial minister Sardar Ikramullah Gandapur's son, Aghaz Khan Gandapur is contesting the by-election. The election could not be held on July 25 because Ikramullah Gandapur was martyred in a suicide bombing before the polls. It was obvious that a member of his family would get the ticket to contest the by-election. Earlier Ikramullah Gandapur's younger brother, Israrullah Gandapur was martyred in a suicide bombing at his hujra in Kulachi, Dera Ismail Khan when he was a provincial minister. Ikramullah Gandapur had contested the by-election on the seat that fell vacant due to Israrullah Gandapur's death and now his son is contesting the by-polls on the same seat.
In Swat district, PTI MNA Dr Haider Ali Khan obtained the PTI ticket for his nephew Sajid Ali Khan to contest the by-election on PK-3. Some party workers were critical of the decision and one of them, Mohammad Zeb Khan is contesting the by-election as an independent. All the opposition parties have joined hands to put up a joint candidate, PML-N's Sardar Khan, to challenge the PTI nominee, Sajid Ali Khan.
After remaining associated with other parties and contesting and losing previous polls, Fazle Moula joined the PTI and got the party ticket to contest the by-election from PK-7. He is a neighbour of PTI MNA Murad Saeed in Kabal town in Swat. His son is stated to be a friend of Murad Saeed. Old PTI workers weren't happy with the award of ticket to Fazle Moula. Two of them, Saeed Khan and Mohammad Rahman, filed nomination papers to challenge him. In this constituency also, the opposition parties have all agreed to support ANP's Waqar Khan to stop Fazle Moula from winning the seat.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Shah Farman's brother Zulfikar Khan is likely to get the PTI ticket for contesting the by-election from PK-71 Peshawar constituency. It was won by Shah Farman in the July 25 general election and vacated after he was surprisingly made the governor. The PTI Youth Wing President Sher Ali Afridi is also a contender for the ticket, but isn't influential enough to upstage the governor's brother and get the ticket.
On the three remaining seats for which by-elections are being held, the PTI gave tickets to candidates who aren't related to party leaders. These vacant seats are NA-35 Bannu, PK-53 Mardan and PK-78 Peshawar.
For NA-35, the PTI ticket was given to Maulana Nasim Ali Shah, who had earlier quit the JUI-F and contested the 2013 general election as an independent candidate. Malik Nasir Khan, a former provincial minister who once played for the Pakistan hockey team, was upset when he wasn't given the ticket. He claimed that Maulana Nasim Ali Shah hasn't even joined the PTI but was given the ticket. The NA-35 was won by Imran Khan by defeating MMA's Akram Khan Durrani, the former chief minister belonging to the JUI-F in the July 25 polls. He vacated the seat and it will now be filled through the by-election. In Mardan's PK-53 constituency, a PTI activist Abdul Salam Afridi has been given the ticket to contest the by-election against ANP's Ahmad Khan Bahadur, who is enjoying support of the other opposition parties. This seat was won by ANP's former chief minister Ameer Haider Hoti, who vacated it and kept the National Assembly constituency that he also won in the July 25 election.
In PK-78 Peshawar, the PTI had fielded a party activist Mohammad Irfan, who belongs to the family of late lawmaker Haji Abdul Mannan. He is contesting against ANP's Samar Haroon Bilour, the widow of late party leader Haroon Bashir Bilour who was martyred in a suicide attack on his election campaign meeting in Peshawar's Yakatoot locality on July 10. The polling was postponed and is now being held along with the other by-elections.
