Local bodies polls slated for December 19

PESHAWAR: As the process of local government polls in 17 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has entered its final phase, the political parties and independent candidates are gearing up for the election for tehsil and village councils in Nowshera district.

The main political parties have fielded candidates for three tehsil councils, including Nowshera, Pabbi and Jehangira in Nowshera. However, tough contest is expected for Nowshera tehsil council where Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf senior leader and Federal Minister for Defence Pervez Khattak and his brother Liaqat Khattak, who is a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Member Provincial Assembly (MPA), have fielded their sons.

Ahad Khattak, who is a former tehsil nazim, is the son of Liaqat Khattak. He has joined the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and would contest the local body polls on its ticket against his cousin Ishaque Khattak, the son of Pervez Khattak.

PTI MPA Liaqat Khattak has yet to resign from his provincial assembly seat. He is actively running his son’s election campaign by holding corner meetings and addressing public gatherings in the constituency.

The PPP also managed a power show a few weeks back in the native town of Pervez Khattak in Manki Sharif where PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari addressed a gathering in support of his party candidate.

On the other hand, Defence Minister Pervez Khattak, his MPA son Ibrahim Khattak and his son-in-Law Dr Imran Khattak are holding corner meetings as part of an election campaign in the district.

The PTI had secured all two National Assembly seats and five provincial assembly seats in 2018 general election but popularity had decreased in the last by-elections where Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz candidate Ikhtiar Wali won with a big margin.

The differences in Pervez Khattak’s family surfaced in the by-election in which Liaqat Khattak covertly supported the PML-N candidate. Soon after the by-election, he was removed from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet where he held the portfolio of Irrigation Ministry.

The Awami National Party has also fielded its candidates for all three tehsil councils in Nowshera where the Pakhtun nationalist party enjoyed popularity in the recent past.

The ANP has an edge over other political parties as it has awarded tickets to candidates against general councillor seats in village councils.

On the other hand, the PTI failed to award tickets for village council seats and the party was now supporting independent candidates with different election symbols.

The ANP awarded ticket to Mian Babar Shah, nephew of Mian Yahya Shah, for Nowshera tehsil while Sikandar Masood Khalil and Ghayoor Khattak are the ANP candidates for Jehangira and Pabbi tehsil respectively.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has nominated Abdul Haq, younger brother of MPA Ikhtiar Wali, who had polled maximum number of votes from tehsil Nowshera in his last by-election.

The Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl has fielded former union council nazim Mufti Hakim Ali for Nowshera tehsil council.

Interestingly, the Jamaat-e-Islami had inked seat adjustment with PPP in Nowshera where the JI would support PPP candidate Ahad Khattak on tehsil council chairmanship slot.

According to political observers and local people in Nowshera, Pervez Khattak had shown keen interest in his son’s election and ignored other tehsils in the district and even in his National Assembly constituency.

The local voters and PTI workers and activists are also fed up with Pervez Khattak’s family politics as in the general election he had supported his brother, son and son-in-law and now fielded his son Ishaque Khattak for tehsil council nazim.

It is the opinion of the majority of the people in Nowshera that Pervez Khattak had pushed his brother and nephew to the PPP under a plan as he might also switch his loyalty and rejoin his former political party.

However, Pervez Khattak had time and again denied it and showed his loyalty with Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Pervez Khattak being chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had undertaken record development work in Nowshera in his previous government. He obliged his friends, relatives and party workers by giving them government jobs.

Owing to the differences in the Pervez Khattak’s family and unprecedented price-hike, the PTI candidates would face a tough time from their rivals in Nowshera and rest of the province where the local body polls are scheduled for December 19.

The local body polls in 17 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would prove as a litmus test for the popularity of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf where the party has been in power for the last eight years.