By-elections in KP: PTI banking on families of party leaders to deliver seats

PESHAWAR: Though the by-elections being held today would give indication of the electoral trends two and a half months after the July 25 general election, another aspect that would be keenly watched is the voters’ reaction to the award of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) tickets to the close relatives of the party leaders.

A look at the list of the PTI candidates and their relationship with the party leaders who got them the tickets to contest the by-elections shows the latter have become so well-entrenched that the ticket is automatically given to those recommended by them.

The PTI chairman, Prime Minister Imran Khan may not like this trend but he seems helpless as the priority right now is to win as many seats as possible to augment the party’s numbers in the National Assembly and the provincial assemblies.

Here is the list of the PTI candidates and their relationships:

PK-3 Swat: The PTI candidate Sajid Ali Khan is nephew of party leader Dr Haider Ali Khan, who had won this seat in the July 25 general election along with one National Assembly seat.As Dr Haider Ali kept his National Assembly seat, he vacated PK-3. PML-N’s Sardar Khan is the main opposition candidate in this constituency.

PK-7 Swat: PTI’s Fazle Moula got the ticket due to backing by Murad Saeed, the party leader who won the National Assembly seat from Swat and is now minister of state for communication. Fazle Moula and Murad Saeed are neighbours in Swat’s Kabaltown. Fazle Moula’s son is stated to be a friend of Murad Saeed. ANP’s Waqar Khan is being supported by all opposition parties.

PK-44 Swabi: PTI candidate Aqibullah Khan is the younger brother of National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, who had won both the national and provincial assembly seats.

PK-61 Nowshera: PTI’s Liaqat Khattak is contesting the by-election on the seat that his elder brother Pervez Khattak won in the July 25 general election. His victory would enable the Pervez Khattak-headed family to control the highest number of assembly seats in the country as it also has two female MNAs – Nafeesa Khattak and Sajida Begum.

PK-64 Nowshera: The PTI candidate Ibrahim Khattak is the son of Pervez Khattak, the former KP chief minister and presently the federal defence minister. Pervez Khattak had won one National Assembly and two provincial assembly seats.

PK-97 Dera Ismail Khan: The PTI candidate Faisal Amin Gandapur is the brother of party leader Ali Amin Gandapur, the former provincial minister was recently appointed federal minister for Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. Ali Amin Gandapurkept his National Assembly seat and vacated the provincial seat, PK-97. He got his brother Faisal Amin Gandapur to give up his French nationality and return to Pakistan to contest the by-election.

PK-99 Dera Ismail Khan: The late Sardar Ikramullah Khan Gandapur’s young son Aghaz Ikramullah Khan Gandapur is the PTI candidate in this constituency. This isn’t a by-election as the election on July 25 was postponed when Ikramullah Gandapurwas martyred in a suicide attack in Dera Ismail Khan’s Kulachiarea.

The three by-elections where the PTI candidates aren’t related to any party leader are the following:

NA-35 Bannu: The PTI candidate Maulana Nasim Ali Shah is, in fact, a former JUI-F leader who quit the party in 2013 when he was denied the ticket and contested as an independent against Akram Khan Durrani. He lost but he didn’t join the PTI until recently. The PTI ignored its loyalist Malik Nasir Khan and gave the ticket to Nasim Ali Shah in a bid Akram Durrani’s son Zahid Akram Durrani.

PK-53 Mardan: Abdul Salam Afridi, the PTI nominee, isn’t related to any PTI leader. He is contesting against ANP’s Ahmad Khan Bahadur.

PK-78 Peshawar: PTI candidate Mohammad Irfan also isn’t a relative of any PTI leader even though he belongs to a prominent political family that was in the past headed by provincial minister Haji Abdul Mannan. The joint opposition candidate in this constituency is ANP’s Samar Haroon Bilour, the widow of Haroon Bashir Bilour who was martyred in a suicide bombing while campaigning in Peshawar on July 10.

PK-71 Peshawar: The by-election will be held on October 21. The PTI candidate Zulfiqar Khan is the brother of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Shah Farman, who is a former provincial minister and had won the PK-71 seat in the July 25 general election. He vacated the seat after becoming the governor.