40 vying for Mardan LG slots

MARDAN: At least 40 candidates, including 12 independents, would contest direct election for the mayor’s slot of Mardan and chairmanship of four tehsils of the district as the returning officers allotted symbols to the candidates, official sources said on Wednesday.

A total of 11 candidates will contest election for the slot of Mardan tehsil mayor.

They include Himayatullah Mayar from ANP, Lakhkar Khan from PTI, Maulana Amnat Shah of JUI-F, Asad Ali Kashmiri of PPP, Mushtaq Semab from JI and PMLN’s Syed Inayat Shah Bacha.

However, Kaleemullah Toru, president PTI Sports and Cultural Wing Mardan rural, former president Mardan Chamber of Commerce and Industry Zahir Shah, Jalil-ul-Mulk, brother of Maulana Shuja-ul-Mulk, former provincial general secretary of JUI-F, Anwar Shah and Asaf Khan will contest election as independent candidates.

For Takhat Bhai tehsil chairman’s slot, seven candidates, including one independent candidate, will contest election.

Nasir Khan, son of former MPA Bahadur Khan, will contest election on ANP ticket, Mohammad Khawar Khan, son of former provincial minister Iftikhar Mohmand, will contest election on PTI ticket, Aurungzeb Khan from PPP, Mohammad Saeed from JUI-F, Mumtaz Khan from PML-N, Mazullah Khan from JI and Ayaz Ali Khan as independent candidate.

For Katlang tehsil chairman’s slot, nine candidates including two independent candidates will contest election.

Emadullah Yousafzai from JUI-F, Fazl-e-Rahman from ANP, Mohammad Aziz from PPP, Zarshad Khan from PTI, Samar Khan from PML-N, Saeed Kamal from QWP, Ali Abbas Khan from JI and Laiq Nawaz and Sartaj Khan will contest election as independent candidates.

For Garhi Kapura tehsil chairman’s slot, seven candidates including three independent candidates will contest election.

Bakhtwar Khan from ANP, Shah Faisal Khan from PTI, Mohammad Ayaz from JUI-F, Asad Jamal from JI, Akhtar Ali, Mohammad Arshad and Mohammad Naeem will contest election as independent candidates.

For Rustam tehsil chairman’s slot, six candidates will contest election.

Muzzafar Shah will contest election from PTI, Ishaq Khan will contest election from ANP, Akhtar Nawaz Khan from PML-N, Ayub Khan from PPP, Sajjad Saeed from JI and Mubarik Ahmad from JUI-F.

ANP central Vice President Ameer Haider Hoti along with other office-bearers has started seeking support for the party candidates.

The ANP has a strong organization in Mardan district and there was no differences among the ANP candidates on ticket issue.

However, the ruling party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is facing a host of problems due to differences and groupings in the district.

Sources added that provincial Minister Atif Khan, who belongs to Mardan, has allotted tickets to the candidates without taking the Members of Provincial Assembly and office-bearers of the party into confidence.

Sources in the party added that Atif Khan had differences with the local organizations of the party. They added that the majority of the party lawmakers and office-bearers were not happy with the ticket distribution.

However, political observers believed that ANP candidate Himayatullah Mayar was a strong candidate for the slot of mayor Mardan.

They believed that ruling party PTI will face a tough challenge from ANP, JUIF, PPP, PML-N and JI in the upcoming local government election.

The Mardan tehsil is represented by two and a half provincial assembly constituencies and 34 union councils. More than 550,000 registered voters will cast their votes in the upcoming local government elections.